About Dr Jane Carr-Wilkinson
I am a Senior Lecturer in Pathology and Academic Lead for Year 5 in the School of Medicine, where I also lead the medical elective component of the programme. I contribute to teaching and learning across Phases 1 and 2 of the MBChB Medicine programme, with a particular focus on health and the pathology of disease. I am also Unit Lead for relevant areas of the curriculum and facilitate problem-based learning in phase one.
As PVC Learning and Teaching Fellow in Transnational Education, I lead a strategic, university-wide initiative to develop and embed opportunities for students to engage in collaborative teaching and learning with our international partner institutions. This work aims to enhance students’ intercultural learning and develop the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to work effectively in an increasingly global healthcare environment.
Teaching and supervision
I'm a Senior Lecturer in Pathology in the School of Medicine. I'm also the academic lead for year five and electives placement lead. I teach a range of subject areas in the MBChB curriculum, including physiology, pathophysiology – with a primary focus on mechanisms of human disease, cellular injury and adaptation, and cancer biology.
I'm a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy with interests in models of patient simulation and the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in higher education.
Interests
I welcome enquiries from research students interested in childhood cancer research including:
- The molecular and cellular analysis of childhood tumours, primarily neuroblastoma
- Cancer stem cell pathways and disease relapse (clonal evolution)
- LGR5 and the WNT signalling pathway in childhood cancer
- Stem cell models and differentiation
Research
My research focuses on pluripotent stem cell differentiation into neural crest cells, with the aim of understanding the links between normal development and the initiation of neuroblastoma. Through this work, I am particularly interested in how insights from developmental biology can help us better understand the origins of childhood cancer.
My clinical cancer research focuses are:
- Investigating the role of key oncogenes and signalling networks in sympathetic neuronal differentiation, neuroblastoma development and acquired drug resistance.
- Using human stem cell models, including neural crest progenitor cells, as a tool to study neuroblastoma initiation and progression.
- Using human stem cell models, including neural crest progenitor cells, as a tool to study neuroblastoma initiation and progression.
Areas of expertise
- Human pluripotent stem cells and neuroblastoma
- Mechanisms of acquired drug resistance in childhood cancer
- Induced pluripotent stem cell models of neurotoxicity
- Academic leadership, including programme leadership of BSc Physiological Sciences and Healthcare Science.
- Medical Education
- Equality, diversity and inclusion
- International partnerships.