Centre for Inflammation Research

Dr Sandrine Prost

Sandrine Prost studies multispectral imaging assessment of multiple markers on biopsy samples.

Dr Sandrine Prost

Senior Lecturer in Pathology / Director Postgraduate Research Studies for the Deanery of Clinical Sciences

  • Centre for Inflammation Research

Contact details

Group members

  • Giulia Tagliavini - PhD student

Background

Sandrine Prost graduated from the University Pierre and Marie Curie, (Paris VI, France) with a PhD in molecular pharmacology studying mechanisms of resistance to antitumor agents that target topoisomerases. She then joined the University of Edinburgh as a European Commission Marie Curie Research Fellow to work on the role of P53 in apoptosis and DNA repair.

Her interests developed from carcinogenesis and the role of tumour suppressor genes in cell responses to injury, in particular the effects of DNA damage and the cell cycle responses to a wider theme of cell injury. She became senior lecturer in 2001 in the Liver Injury and Repair Group of the University Department of Pathology.

Current translational research aims to develop new diagnostic approaches on clinical biopsy material, relevant to prognosis and personalised treatment in immune and inflammatory diseases, including transplantation. The approach includes the use of multispectral imaging technology to gain new insights into rare and hybrid cell populations within diseased tissue, recently involving in situ phenotyping of macrophages in biopsies. 

Research Overview

I am interested in the cellular reactions to injury and their role in determining pathogenesis and disease outcome. Our current translational research aims to identify within the diseased tissue new biomarker combinations to improve the recognition and management of inflammatory renal and hepatic disease. We have been using RNAscope (ACDbio) to sensitively detect low level hepatitis viral RNA in situ within tissue samples and multispectral imaging (Nuance Perkin Elmer) in the per-cell evaluation of multiple (5+) markers on clinical biopsy samples. Recent work includes a detailed comparative in situ phenotyping study of macrophages in clinical inflammatory and allo-immune conditions affecting the liver and kidney.

The image shows a 5 colour fluorescence image of kidney and how some cells like macrophages are labelled with multiple colours.
The image shows a multicolour labelling of a kidney graft biopsy. Five different proteins are labelled specifically and coloured green, yellow, red, purple and cyan. Where cells contain the red and the yellow labelled proteins the colour appears orange.

The following PDF provides a brief visual summary of this group’s current research.

 

You can view a full catalogue of graphical research summaries for each group in the Centre for Inflammation Research by visiting our Research page.

Visit CIR’s Research page

Biographical Profile

Sandrine Prost is a senior lecturer who trained in Paris and joined the Pathology department in 1995.

Honours and Awards

Personal rewards and honours

  • 1994-1996 and 1997: Research Fellow European Community - Human Capital and Mobility
  • 1996-1998: SHERT research fellowship
  • 1994: Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer, Paris  PostDoctoral research fellow
  • 1993: Association pour la Recherche contre le Cancer (ARC), Villejuif, France graduate fellow
  • 1991-1993: Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer, Paris, graduate fellow

October 2000 Invited instructor for the EMBO Course, "From mice to cells" EMBL Heidelberg

July 2003 Official Monitoring the Gordon’s Research Conferences 2Molecular & Genetic Basis of Cell Proliferation" Colby-Sawyer College, Boston.

Other major rewards (when multiple awardees the full list of names is given in brackets)

  • CSO project grant 30 + 6 months extension including a technician post (Applicants: D Kluth, S Prost, C Bellamy) 2012-2015
  • The Melville Trust for the Cure and Care of Cancer. 2-years project grants 2007-09
  • The Melville Trust for the Cure and Care of Cancer. 2-years project grants 2005-07
  • The Melville Trust for the Cure and Care of Cancer. 2-years project grants 2002-05
  • SHERT training research fellowship to Stephen Boyce August 2003
  • ASTRAZENECA 3 years collaborative project grant including salary for a postdoctoral fellow (Applicants: DJ Harrison  and S Prost) 2002-2005
  • Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. Equipment Grant 146 : Establishment of a confocal microscopy facility for the MRC Centre for Inflammation Research (Applicants: CO Bellamy, S Prost, DJ Harrison) 2000
  • The Melville Trust for the Care and Cure of Cancer. Research grant for 18 months including postdoctoral fellow salary 2000-2002
  • BBSRC project Grant for 2 years including technician and postdoctoral fellow posts (Applicants: S Prost and DJ Harrison) January 2000-2003

Other

  • 2014: Moray Endowment Fund small grant award
  • 2014: The University of Edinburgh Development Trust; Innovation Initiative
  • 2001: SHERT small grant award (Applicants : S Prost and C McCullough)
  • 2001: Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust small grant award (Applicants: CO Bellamy and S Prost)
  • 1999: The Melville Trust– small grant award
  • 1997-1998: The Melville Trust – small grant award.
  • 1997: Scottish Hospital Endowments Research Trust, travel grant
  • 1996: American Association for Cancer Research,  Young Investigator Travel Scholarship
  • 1993, 1994 and 1995: European Communities, Young Investigator Travel Scholarship to attend the first, 2nd and 3rd Euroconference on apoptosis

Alumni

I supervised many research students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I apologise in advance to those not mentioned by name.

Undergraduates: I supervised 9 BSc (Hons) students in Experimental Pathology who all successfully graduated with at least a 2:1 ; including Sian Stephens (1997-98), Charlotte Warren-Gash (1999-2000), Marion Campbell,  Yuen-Sum Samantha Chan (2000-01), Karl Symonds (2001-02), Chris Kane (2003-04) and Matt Parker (2004-05)

Postgraduates: 4 students enrolled on the Wellcome 4 Years PhD (Cellular and molecular basis of disease) for their 1st year miniproject  including Aziz Aboobaker (1998) and Clett Erridge (1999)

7 Masters by Research in Life Sciences for their Cancer biology project, including Manish Mittal and Zhenjie Xu, and finally 10 PhD students:  3 as main supervisor; 7 as 2nd supervisor

Sharon Sheahan (main supervisor) 1997-2001 went on to do a Postdoc in Oxford and is now Commercialisation Case Manager at Teagasc & University College Cork

Louise Treanor (main supervisor) 2002-2006 went on to do a Postdoc St Jude Children's research hospital now Principal Scientist at Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research (NIBR) Cambridge, Massachusetts

Stephen Boyce 2002-2006 (main supervisor) Surgeon, back to surgery

And as second supervisor 7 students including Kerry B, Ben Tura, Nicola Martin and Chris McCullough.

Finally, Pin Lu and Nick Wheelhouse who joined me as postdocs, and really competent technicians Clare Taylor, Shoena Gillies, Dominic Rannie, Helen Caldwell and Ria Kishen.

Other Responsiblities

Sandrine Prost is project manager for the undergraduate Laboratory Medicine curriculum review and manager of the Laboratory Medicine Mobile Learning project.

Collaborators

  • Dr Chris Bellamy
  • Professor David Kluth
  • Professor David Harrison (St Andrew University)
  • Professor Linda Scobie (Glasgow Caledonian University)
  • Dr Clare Crossan (Glasgow Caledonian University)

Sources of Funding

Information on funding at Sandrine Prost's Research Explorer profile.