MEET THE TEAM
DR. EMMA KERR
Principle Investigator
Emma completed her PhD in Cancer Biology in 2011, at Queen's University Belfast, working with Prof Dan Longley and Prof Patrick Johnston on mechanisms of cancer therapy and drug resistance. In 2012, Emma moved to University of Cambridge to pursue her post-doctoral studies, working on tumour progression and therapy in the lab of Dr Carla Martins, based at the MRC Cancer Unit. Her work focussed on defining the role of metabolic reprogramming and therapeutic susceptibilities in genotype-specific lung cancer models. She returned to Queen's in 2018, where she runs the Cancer Metabolism and Therapy Group supported by a Cancer Research UK Career Development Fellowship (Werth Trust Fellow).
DR CHRIS MCCANN
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Chris obtained his BSc in Biomedical sciences from Queen’s University Belfast, and MSc at the University of Brighton, before returning to QUB to complete a PhD in 2017, investigating mechanisms of cell death resistance in prostate cancer. He began his postdoctoral studies investigating proteomic signatures of response to treatment in colorectal cancer (CRC) with Prof Dan Longley. Chris joined the Kerr group in August 2019 to expand his expertise in CRC therapy. His current work focusses on investigating treatment-induced metabolic vulnerabilities in state of the art in vitro and in vivo models of CRC.
CONNOR BROWN
LCMS Metabolomics Research Technician
Connor obtained his MBiol in Molecular Cell Biology from the University of York in 2017, during which time he worked for a year at GlaxoSmithKline, establishing liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods and analyses. He then joined Queen’s University Belfast in 2017 to complete a PhD in metabolic changes associated with age-related macular degeneration. Connor joined the Kerr group in 2021 as a Research Technician, where his work focuses on developing LC-MS techniques to examine metabolic-based therapy resistance mechanisms in cancer.
DEBBIE MOSS
PhD student (DfE funded)
Debbie obtained her BSc in Biomedical Science and MSc in Cancer Medicine from Queen’s University Belfast. Her PhD project focuses on elucidating the stage-specific metabolic programs that drive 5FU resistance in colorectal cancer, hoping to uncover imposed vulnerabilities that can be leveraged to improve 5FU response.
TILLY DOWNS
PhD student (DfE funded)
Tilly obtained her BSc in Biomedical Science from Cardiff University before taking a position as a Research Assistant within the Respiratory Medicine Unit at the University of Oxford in 2017, focusing on translational research and early phase clinical trials for respiratory diseases and cystic fibrosis. In 2020, Tilly moved to Belfast to undertake her MSc in Cancer Medicine at Queen’s University Belfast, and joined the Kerr group to begin her PhD in October 2021. Tilly's project investigates lung cancer metabolism driven changes in immune function and therapy resistance.
NIKITA LEWIS
Research Technician
Nikita obtained a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences from Newcastle University in 2020. She then completed her Masters in Cancer Research and Molecular Biomedicine from the University of Manchester in 2021, where her project focused on the intrinsic pathway of mitochondrial apoptosis. She recently joined the group as a Research Technician where she's been looking at how different nutrient abundances alter colorectal cancer metabolism.