MarinaName:
Marina Georgiou

Cohort year:
2012-2013

Stream:
Cancer Biology

My project titles:
I worked on two 5 months projects during my masters:
1) Identification of small compound inhibitors of Ribosomal S6 Kinase 4 (RSK4).
2) Investigated DAPK2 role in mitochondrial maintenance.

Current role:
I am currently a final year PhD student at Imperial College London.

My main areas of interest:
My thesis focuses on finding the molecular determinants of development & chemoresistance in Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD).

The most beneficial things about the programme:
The programme prepares students for a research career. I learned a wide range of laboratory techniques and acquired the skills of practicality, versatility, decision making and problem solving. Skills that are extremely useful for my PhD and further career.

The things enjoyed the most about the programme/Imperial College London/London:
Met students from different countries/cultures and made lifetime friends which I meet every few month since we are all doing PhDs in different countries. I had the opportunity to become a contributing author in 2 publications during the Master’s degree.

Since getting my Master’s:
I started a PhD at Imperial College London working on Gestational Trophoblastic Disease. I aim to improve the current diagnostic system, and find novel therapeutic targets for treatment of resistant choriocarcinoma patients in clinic. Aside from working on my PhD, I am also involved with Imperial College Innovation Forum, student society, which is part of a global non-profit organisation that helps bridge the gap between academic science, industry and policy makers. I am currently the President of Innovation Forum Imperial College Brunch and previously, I worked as the Finance and Marketing manager.

Next steps:
Continue working in Research as a Post-Doc, and one day manage my own Lab.