Overview

I am an ecotoxicology PhD student in the Charles Tyler lab group. My main research interests include the following:

• The effects of pharmaceuticals, particularly antidepressants, on aquatic organism health.
• The use of a transgenic zebrafish models, in combination with a variety of imaging modalities to reveal drug-induced effects.

Qualifications

2014 - 2017: BSc Zoology, University of Exeter

Career

2017 - Present: PhD Researcher, University of Exeter 

Research group links

• Environmental Biology

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Research

Research projects

Project Title: Integrated health effects analysis of antidepressants inhibiting serotonin and/or norepinephrine reuptake using zebrafish models.

Supervisors: Professor Charles Tyler and Dr Matthew Winter

Funding Body: MSD and University of Exeter

Project Description:

• Assess the bioavailability and subsequent behavioural-induced effects of a range of widely prescribed antidepressants that are detected in the environment using zebrafish larvae as a model species. 
• Conduct a chronic exposure to investigate the physiological and behavioural effects of the tricyclic antidepressant amitriptyline on zebrafish early life stages. 
• Utilise a transgenic zebrafish model, in combination with light sheet microscopy, to identify neural circuits affected by exposure to these antidepressant drugs. This work will also involve the introduction of fictive stimuli to capture how exposed larvae respond, on a neurological basis, to perceived threats using projections on an LED screen. 

Research networks

Profession memberships:

• Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
• Fisheries Society of the British Isles
• Society of Toxicology
• Royal Society of Chemistry

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