The Lee Placito Medical Fund exists to further research into gastrointestinal disease and primary and secondary gastrointestinal cancer.
This year, Lee Placito Fellowships have been awarded to two researchers in the Medical Sciences Division: Dr Linh Nguyen at the Kennedy Institute and Dr Holly Russell, a postdoctoral researcher in the Patel Group in the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit.
Under the fellowship, Dr Holly Russell will investigate how DNA damage occurs and is repaired in the gastrointestinal system — one of the body’s most highly replicative tissues. She will study the effects of different DNA-damaging agents on gut homeostasis and explore the mechanisms by which enterocytes protect themselves against DNA damage. Through this work, Dr Russell aims to shed light on processes that drive enterocyte mutation, dysfunction and disease, with the potential to inform future treatments.
Speaking about the fellowship, Holly said:
This fellowship will allow me to investigate a key unanswered question on how the gut resolves endogenous DNA damage - a process which is fundamental to cancer development and progression. I am grateful to the board for this opportunity to contribute to field of gastrointestinal disease research, and hopefully open up new avenues for treatment.
Holly completed her PhD with the Patel Group at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford. Her project investigated how the body handles endogenous formaldehyde and why some tissues are more vulnerable to this damage than others.