Contact information
Research groups
Elaine Johnstone
Deputy Director MSc Experimental and Translational Therapeutics
I am a Translational Research Scientist and have worked in the Department since 2006. I have a BSc in Medicinal Chemistry, an MSc in Molecular Pathology and Toxicology and a PhD in Molecular Pharmacology. My PhD at the Cancer Research Unit, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, was the seed of the start of a career researching drug pharmacology, pharmacodynamics and personalised/precision medicine. After a postdoctoral fellowship studying differential drug response in sarcoma at the University of Bordeaux, my Oxford career initially focussed on cancer prevention, via optimising smoking cessation therapies. We aimed to tailor these towards the individual by studying nicotine metabolic pathways and reward-gene variation. I then adapted my expertise to identify biomarkers of prognosis and of treatment effectiveness within clinical trials (predominantly colorectal cancer) in the Department of Oncology.
My current role has a teaching focus, having worked on the MSc in Experimental Therapeutics MSc for more than 15 years, I now lead a module on Biomarkers and am also the Deputy Director. I really enjoy teaching and supervising students and am interested in Educational Research also. I recently achieved a Distinction in the PGCert in Higher Teaching and Learning at the University of Oxford.
Recent publications
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Biophysical interactions between components of the tumor microenvironment promote metastasis.
Journal article
Vasilaki D. et al, (2021), Biophys Rev, 13, 339 - 357
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The clinical landscape for AAV gene therapies.
Journal article
Kuzmin DA. et al, (2021), Nat Rev Drug Discov, 20, 173 - 174
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Evaluation of the Response of HOS and Saos-2 Osteosarcoma Cell Lines When Exposed to Different Sizes and Concentrations of Silver Nanoparticles.
Journal article
Michalakis K. et al, (2021), Biomed Res Int, 2021
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Pattern Recognition Receptor Polymorphisms as Predictors of Oxaliplatin Benefit in Colorectal Cancer.
Journal article
Gray V. et al, (2019), J Natl Cancer Inst, 111, 828 - 836
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Association analyses identify 31 new risk loci for colorectal cancer susceptibility.
Journal article
Law PJ. et al, (2019), Nat Commun, 10