Profile
Rebekah Boreham
PhD student
Geoffrey Pope Lab 201
Geoffrey Pope Building, University of Exeter , Stocker Road, Exeter, EX4 4QD, UK
Overview
I am an ecotoxicology PhD researcher in the Charles Tyler lab group. My background is in animal biology, and I spent some time as an intern with a marine conservation charity in south Wales. I then returned to Exeter to start an iCASE PhD investigating the effect of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment, in partnership with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
Qualifications
PhD (University of Exeter, 2018-present)
BSc Biological sciences with Animal biology with Study abroad (University of Exeter, 2013-2017)
Research
Research interests
- Ecotoxicology
- Transgenic zebrafish
- (Semi-) automated imaging platforms
- Pharmaceutical-induced oxidative stress
Research projects
Project Title: Advancing transgenic zebrafish bioassays for drug analysis using imaging
Supervisors: Professor Charles Tyler, Dr Malcolm Hetheridge, Dr Jonathan Ball, Dr Stewart Owen (Industry Partner)
Funding Body: BBSRC, AstraZeneca, University of Exeter
Project Description: I use novel transgenic zebrafish in combination with different imaging platforms to investigate mixture effects of pharmaceuticals in waterways. The primary model I work with is the oxidative stress model TG(EpRE:mCherry), which I use with a semi-automated plate reader, the Acquifer, for high-throughput screening. I also apply confocal microscopy for higher-content imaging to understand the nuances of drug-induced oxidative stress and how it affects target organs. I focus particularly on the interaction of drug-induced oxidative stress with oestrogenic compounds or temperature. I am also exploring the use of mass spectrometry imaging methods for visualising the distribution of a drug and its metabolites within the body of zebrafish embryos.
Research networks
Profession memberships:
- Society of Toxicology
- British Toxicology Society
- Royal Society of Biology