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Dr Catriona Cunningham

Dr Catriona Cunningham
Dr Catriona Cunningham
Dr Catriona Cunningham

MBChB, BSc (Hons), PhD

Lecturer

About
Email Address
catriona.cunningham@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 437520
Office Address
5.19 Institute of Medical Sciences
Foresterhill Campus
Ashgrove Road West
AB25 2ZD

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School/Department
School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition
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Personal Website
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Biography

I began my academic career studying medicine here at the University of Aberdeen. From 2012-13, I completed an intercalated BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience with Psychology during which time I realised that I was much more passionate about science than medicine. After graduating from my medical degree in 2014, I moved to the University of Manchester to undertake a PhD in the EPSRC and MRC Centre of Doctoral Training in Regenerative Medicine. I worked in the Brain Inflammation Group supervised by Professor Stuart Allan on the potential of the mesenchymal stem cell secretome in promoting repair and functional recovery after ischaemic stroke. In 2018, I completed my PhD and was awarded an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship which allowed me to stay on in Manchester for another year to explore novel tissue engineering strategies for brain repair. Serendipity then brought my back to Aberdeen! In late 2019, I joined the Aberdeen Spinal Injury Research Team as a Research Fellow to investigate novel combination therapies for central nervous system repair. In August 2021, I then changed role to become a Teaching Fellow in Physiology and Pharmacology based in the Institute of Education in Healthcare and Medical Sciences. In August 2023 I was promoted to Lecturer (Scholarship).

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Neuroscience with Psychology (Intercalating) 
    2013 - University of Aberdeen 

    First class honours

  • MBChB Medicine 
    2014 - University of Aberdeen 
  • PhD Regenerative Medicine 
    2019 - University of Manchester 

    Project focussing on the role of the mesenchymal stem cell cell secretome in promoting recovery after stroke. Supervised by Professor Stuart Allan.

Research

Research Overview

I have a strong interest in active learning approaches for teaching physiology. My current focus is the development of interactive online case studies using https://h5p.org/. My other areas of interest include:

  • Educational escape rooms
  • Live polling
  • Statistics and data visualisation
  • Generative AI

My main research interest from my PhD and postdoctoral work is the potential of tissue engineering strategies for central nervous system repair. I particularly focussed on the mesenchymal stem cell secretome, the vast cocktail of cytokines, chemokines, growth factors and extracellular vesicles secreted by these cells. I am also interested in systematic review and meta-analysis to improve the quality of preclinical studies.

Research Areas

Biomedical Sciences

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Research Specialisms

  • Neuroscience
  • Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
  • Biomedical Sciences

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Knowledge Exchange

I developed an enthusiasm for public engagement in 2015 during my PhD. I have been involved in a vast range of activities including running tabletop activities at science festivals, giving talks about my research to the public, producing short videos for YouTube and writing blog posts. In 2021, I was a Scottish finalist in FameLab and was selected to participate in I'm a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here. In March 2022, I took part in Bright Club with an 8 minute comedy set about my experiences of systematic reviewing and why we can't trust all research.

Teaching

Programmes

Courses

Teaching Responsibilities

Course administration

Lead for Assessment (Science Programmes)

Course coordinator for BI20B2 Physiology of Human Cells, SM4901 Data Analysis Paper and SM4902 General Essay Paper

Preclinical lead for cardiovascular block in ME2512 Medicine 1

Theme leader for Acquired Diseases on SM2501 Research skills for Medical Sciences

Publications

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