Matthew Ellis (DPhil)
He completed his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at King’s College London before undertaking an MRes in Cancer Biology at Imperial College London, where he was honoured with the Faculty of Medicine Dean’s Prize for achieving the highest distinction on the course. During his MRes, he conducted research in Dr Andrew Porter’s lab investigating gene editing approaches to treat chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) and in Dr Nic Tapon’s lab studying the Hippo pathway in tumour development using Drosophila melanogaster at the Francis Crick Institute, where he gained invaluable insights into cancer biology. Following this, he worked as a Research Assistant in Professor Stefan Marciniak’s laboratory at the Cambridge Institute of Medical Research (CIMR), focusing on the trafficking of surfactant protein C under the guidance of Dr Jennifer Dickens.
He was awarded an MRC studentship and an Exeter College scholarship to undertake his DPhil in Oncology at the University of Oxford, where he investigated the role of IGF-1R in prostate cancer radio-sensitivity under the supervision of Professor Valentine Macaulay.
While studying graduate medicine at University College London he was awarded the Sekforde House Trust Scholarship and the Stapley Trust Award. During his training he worked in the lab of Professor Wojciech Niedzwiedz at the Institute of Cancer Research, studying the mechanisms behind genomic instability, ultimately deciding to pursue academic research full-time.
As a Research Associate in the Balmus lab and at Trinity Hall, he focuses on developing therapies that exploit defective DNA repair in neurodegenerative conditions such as in ataxia telangiectasia and Huntington’s Disease.
