Dr Francesca Sawer

Profile

Francesca is one of the NHS managers for the trainees’ on the Leeds Clinical Psychology training programme. She is responsible for bridging trainees’ employment within the NHS (Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust) and academic enrolment at the University of Leeds. This includes day to day management of performance, development, training, appraisals, trainee welfare, pastoral support and the managing sickness and leave; linking in with both university staff and NHS managers.

Francesca qualified as a Clinical Psychologist from the University of Surrey in 2016 and for the rest of the week works at Great Ormond Street Hospital, specialising in paediatric neurodisability. She also has a keen interest in allergies and the psychological impact of living with allergies.

Research groups and institutes

• Leeds Institute of Health Sciences

Opportunities

• Diaphragmatic function in malignant hyperthermia
• Epigenetic therapy using ultrasound-triggered microbubble drug delivery for colorectal cancer
• Metabolic regulation of anti-tumour T cell immunity
• 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1: a novel target to improve wound healing in diabetes
• Atomic force microscopy studies of the molecular mechanisms of nested genes related to tooth formation
• Characterisation of a pre-osteoblast subset of human mesenchymal stem cells: implications for novel osteoarthritis and osteoporosis treatment development
• Combination oncolytic virotherapy for the treatment of Haematological malignancies
• Computational approaches to understanding the mechanosensitive Piezo1 channel activation mechanism
• Developing pluripotent stem cell models of inherited retinal diseases
• Development of a T-cell subset phenotyping, ready-to-use, flow cytometry kit for patients with rheumatoid arthritis
• Digital manufacturing of complete dentures
• Enhancing Oncolytic Virus-induced Immunotherapy using Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA)
• Epigenetic therapy using ultrasound-mediated microbubble drug delivery for cancer treatment
• Exploring the mitotic functions of ASPM in human brain size regulation
• Gastroesophageal reflux in respiratory disease: pathogenic role and improved management
• Genetic studies of corneal endothelial dystrophies and development of alternative treatment options
• Genome and transcriptome sequencing and functional analysis to find new mutation types in patients with inherited blindness
• How human teeth form and how that process fails in the inherited condition amelogenesis imperfecta
• Identification and functional characterisation of BRIT1/MCPH1 synthetic lethal genes to treat breast and ovarian cancer
• IGF axis regulation of matrix mineralisation of dental stem cell populations
• Immunological complicity in evolution of potentially malignant oral lesions
• Improving surgical outcomes for colorectal cancer patients by pre-operative intervention.
• Investigating the genetic association between systemic disease and oral health through genome-wide association study
• Investigation of matrix-mineral interactions of enamel formation in Amelogenesis Imperfecta
• Metabolic labelling approach for the incorporation of functional groups in therapeutic DNA enabling advanced payload delivery strategies in peptide-based gene delivery
• Metabolic reprogramming in cancer: starving tumors of essential nutrients to promote cell death
• Novel regulators of +TIP localisation and function
• Oncogenic reprogramming of the immune system
• Oncolytic virus immunotherapy to sensitise liver cancers to immune checkpoint blockade
• Oral health and cognitive function in old age
• Osteochondral tissue engineering using novel epigenetic approaches and multi-layered cell sheet technology
• Partial human genome RNAi screen to identify genes involved in brain size regulation and cancer development.
• Peptide-based matrix gene delivery for tissue regeneration and anti-microbial therapy targeting periodontal disease
• Pre-clinical testing of new therapeutic treatments for cystic kidney disease
• Pre-receptor regulation of glucocorticoid target genes in human skin
• Primary Immunodeficiencies: molecular genetics and the underlying biological mechanisms of disease
• Starving cancer cells to death
• Sun exposure as a novel risk factor for Zika virus infection
• Switching off immunity in health and disease
• The functional characterization of the tumour suppressor gene CSMD1 in breast cancer
• The genetic basis of cognitive impairment in intellectual disability and schizophrenia
• The potential use of bioactive peptides from food and waste as anti-cariogenic agents
• Transient arrest of cell ageing during amplification of human cells in culture
• Understanding the causes of developmental tooth defects using a high-throughput genomic screening approach
• Using massively-paralleled sequencing to find the cause of inherited conditions that affect the front of the eye
• Using next-generation sequencing and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to investigate penetrance and phenotypic variation in inherited eye disease.