Gerald Kerkut Trust Symposium
10th July 2026
Axis, Science Park, Chilworth

This was a day-long symposium during which postgraduates funded by the trust gave talks on their work.

Programme

Coffee and Pastries	08:45 - 09:15
Welcome and introduction from Prof. Robert Walker	09:15 - 09:30
Session 1 - Chair Prof. Robert Walker
Naziah Choudhury (recorded) (David Tumbarello, Arjuna Ratnayaka)  Investigating the role of TOLLIP in inflammatory signalling following mitochondrial stress: Insights into the NLRP3 Inflammasome	09:30 - 09:45
Daniel Adenisimi (Jessica Teeling, Sofia Michopoulou, Rahman Attar)  IMPACT - Immune markers of progression of Alzheimer’s Disease for clinical translation - an artificial intelligence enabled approach	09:45 - 10:00
Julia Escarrabill (Emily Brookes, Mariana Vargas-Caballero)  Investigating BDNF in Rett Syndrome	10:00 - 10:15
Kiron Dunn (Mariana Vargas-Caballero, Kif Liakath-Ali)  Investigating the maturation of induced human neurons through the study of excitatory synaptic currents	10:15 - 10:30
Stephanie Turner (Arjuna Ratnayaka, Andrew Lotery, David Tumbarello)  Revisiting ABCA4: lysosomal function in the RPE and implications for Stargardt disease	10:30 - 10:45
Tea & Coffee	10:45 - 11:15
Session 2 - Chair Dr Niall Horn
Suzanne Buss (recorded) (Diego Gomez-Nicola. Mariana Vargos-Caballero)  Mapping the immune compartment in human Alzheimer's disease	11:15 - 11:30
Daisy Bown (Matthew Terry, Lorraine Williams)  The role of TaPIF3 in regulating growth and development of hexaploid wheat	11:30 - 11:45
Luke Green (recorded) (Owen Rackham, Ahmed Dawoud, Sandrine Willaime-Morawek)  Multimodal foundation models for the functional interpretation of disease	11:45 - 12:00
James Lamb (James Dillon, Katrin Deinhardt, Vincent O'Connor)  Sensory and developmental phenotyping of C. elegans parses autism associated genes into behavioural classification	12:00 - 12:15
Lunch	12:15 - 14:00
Session 3 - Chair Dr Alan Thomas
Cesar Garcia-Carreoan (recorded)) (Luis Yanez-Guera, Joerg Wiedenmann)  From Reefs to Brains: Corals to study evolution of neurotransmission.	14:00 - 14:15
Ayesha Mohuid-din (Herman Wijnen, Marc Dumont, Orestis Katsamenis)  Mechanisms underlying environmental control of oviposition in Drosophila	14:15 - 14:30
Sonakshi Gehlot (Marcin Przewloka, Nullin Divecha)  Investigating the localization and role of Nuclear PIP2	14:30 - 14:45
Sam Hodgkinson (Daniel Stabler, Emily Gwyer Findlay)  The physiology of lipid-dependent immunity in bees	14:45 - 15:00
Tea & Coffee	15:00 - 15:30
Joshua Green Jenkinson (Nicole Prior, Jonathan Swann)  The regulatory role of metabolism in driving cell fate decisions during liver development and regeneration	15:30 - 15:45
Mengyang Gou (Salah Elias, Nicole Prior)  Identification of novel Annexin A1-expressing bipotent luminal stem cells in the mouse mammary gland	15:45 - 16:00
Ewan Reed (Marcin Przewloka, Salah Elias)  Organisation of intermediate filaments in interphase and mitotic epithelial cells	16:00 - 16:15