The School of Health and Life Sciences is committed to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and knowledge transfer across the disciplines of health, nursing and social care, biological and biomedical sciences, psychology and vision sciences.
Dr Fiona Kerr is a Research Fellow and Principal Investigator in the Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences at GCU, with a focus on studying the molecular links between ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. Previously, she undertook her PhD under the supervision of Prof Sir Simon Lovestone (2002-2006), then at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, investigating the connections between diabetes mellitus, altered insulin signalling and development of tau pathology in cell culture and animal models. She then spent 10 years as a post-doctoral research associate in the lab of Prof Dame Linda Partridge, at the Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, where she investigated the causal role of longevity genes in preventing AD pathology using the fruit fly, Drosophila Melanogaster. As Lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University (2016-17) and Research Fellow at GCU, Fiona began her independent research to translate these findings to human systems, using stem-cell derived human neuronal models of AD. Outside the lab Fiona is West of Scotland Co-Representative on the Alzheimer’s Research UK Scotland Network Organising Committee, a member of the Carnegie Research Trust Research Assessor Panel (Science, Engineering & Technology) and an ECR rep for the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA). She also participates in a wide range of Public Engagement activities, through Science Festivals, Caledonian club and hosting Nuffield Foundation school students in her lab. More information of Fiona’s research team and publications can be found in her research profile.
