Bradford biomedical science graduate takes gold
A graduate from the University of Bradford has been praised for her research at the British Society for Neuroendocrinology (BSN) annual meeting.
Sophia Nanou, who was born in Bradford, graduated this July with a 1st Class Honours in . Over the summer, Sophia worked with Dr Gisela Helfer and Dr Sriharsha Kantamneni on a cutting-edge research project that looked at the protein Chemerin as a promising candidate for pharmacological treatment strategies for obesity. Her results indicated that at the cellular level, chemerin plays a role in appetite regulation and inflammation associated with obesity.
Sophia was then invited to present her results in the form of a poster and a presentation at the BSN annual meeting at the University of Nottingham. Sophia was up against stiff competition from 43 other presentations but was awarded gold.
Sophia said: “Working in the laboratory over the summer was a great opportunity and gave me valuable practical lab experience working with some amazing academics. I was so surprised that I won the BSN competition especially as I was an undergraduate up against people with a lot more experience and more results, but it has given me a big confidence boost and I hope to go on to complete a PhD.”
Sophia was awarded a grant to help her carry out the 8 weeks project and hopes to receive more funding to enable her to complete the project.