Benefactors visit Institute to see the impact of their bursary
The Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics recently welcomed Ronnie and Sabine Austin, benefactors of the Eva and Herbert Austin Bursary, which supports travel for conferences and collaborations in drug-induced liver injury research.
During their visit, Ronnie and Sabine met members of Professor Chris Goldring’s and Professor Ian Copple’s research groups, toured the labs in the Sherrington Building, and observed techniques commonly used in drug-induced liver injury research, including qPCR and western blotting.
They also visited the Human Liver Research Facility (HLRF), where they saw some of the exciting research into developing in vitro liver models to use for investigating drug-induced liver injury. Dr Rowena Sison-Young, HLRF manager highlighted the excellent connections that the HLRF has with the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, and how liver specimens can be transferred from theatre to lab in under 30 minutes.
Last July Hannah Coghlan, PhD student in Professor Copple’s group, and Dr Georgina Gregory, Research Associate, received funding through the Eva and Herbert Austin Bursary to attend the World Congress of Pharmacology in Glasgow. Hannah and Georgina presented their work to Ronnie and Sabine, including their conference posters and discussed the other seminars and workshops they were able to take advantage of during their trip.
Dr Georgina Gregory commented: "Sabine and Ronnie were delighted to hear how the funds had been used towards this conference. They were interested in hearing about our research as well as the other career development opportunities and networking that are offered through attending events such as this.
"The visit was a great opportunity to showcase the fantastic work going on in the Department and to share the benefits that travel for conferences and collaborations can have on professional development, especially for early career researchers such as myself."