Dr Mirren Charnley

Biography

Mirren completed a degree in Biological Chemistry and subsequently a PhD at the University of Sheffield with Prof. John Haycock. In 2008 she moved to Switzerland to take up a postdoctoral research position with Prof. Marcus Textor in the Department of Materials at ETH Zurich. During her PhD and postdoctoral studies she used chemical and topographical patterning surfaces to produce 2D and 3D cell culture platforms to explore and control cell behaviour. Through the development of these novel platforms she was able to reveal the effect of dimensionality, cell shape and environmental cues on intracellular polarisation and division. In 2012 Mirren began a fellowship funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology with Prof. Sarah Russell and Prof. Sally McArthur. Her current research centres on the controlled functionalisation of surfaces to individually present proteins to T cells. Using this system she hopes to determine the proteins responsible for controlling cell division in developing T cells. By combining microfabrication, imaging and biological assays she hopes to provide new insights into the mechanisms controlling immune cell fate decisions.