Published: 08 October 2024
At City St George’s, we’re always eager to celebrate the achievements of our talented, driven and dynamic student body. We caught up with final-year vascular biology PhD student, Elizabeth Forrester, to talk about her recent successes in her field of study.
Firstly, could you tell us a bit about yourself and your studies here at City St George’s?
I am a final-year PhD student funded by the British Heart Foundation. I first came to St George’s in 2018 for my Undergraduate Degree in Biomedical Science. During my second year, I underwent a summer internship in Professor Iain Greenwood's laboratory, which focused on Kv7 channels and their contribution to prostacyclin-mediated relaxation between male and female Wister rats.
I enjoyed learning new experimental techniques and vascular research so much that I completed my final year dissertation in Iain’s laboratory, continuing from the work I did in the summer. During this time, Professor Iain Greenwood, and I applied for a PhD studentship grant from the British Heart Foundation. In the summer after finishing my Biomedical Science degree, I worked for Biohaven Pharmaceutical Company before starting my PhD in October 2021.
Since starting at St George’s, I have been a part of the Firebirds cheerleading team. Attending weekly training sessions, socialising at the SU bar, and participating in competitions have been incredibly fun and have greatly enhanced my experience at St George’s. I have loved studying here and will greatly miss it.
You recently won a prize for your oral communication at the Vascular Biology Meeting in Oxford – how did you find out about the competition and what did it involve?
Throughout studying for a PhD, there are several scientific conferences that you can attend to publicise your research. From the 2nd to -the 5th of July this year, I attended the 15th International Symposium on Mechanisms of VasoDilatation and EDH in Oxford. I learned about the conference while working for a week in Professor Kim Dora’s laboratory at Oxford University’s Department of Pharmacology. Every conference will have the best oral and poster presentation prizes for early career researchers (PhD and master's students).
At the meeting, I presented my work on the role of sensory nerves in Dapagliflozin and Empagliflozin-induced arterial relaxation and to my surprise, I was awarded the best oral communication.
When you get a prize at these conferences, it’s such an achievement as it shows several professors and postdoctoral researchers enjoyed your work.
- Elizabeth Forrester, final-year PhD student -
You’ve also had a paper accepted by the prestigious Cardiovascular Journal. Is this your first published work? If so, how did you feel when it was accepted?
When my publication on the crucial role of sensory nerves and Na/H exchanger inhibition in dapagliflozin and empagliflozin-induced arterial relaxation was published, I was relieved and extremely excited as this is my first primary author paper. So much time went into this publication, from all the hours doing experiments to analysing and writing, as well as my professor going through and making many corrections to improve the article. We first sent the paper to the circulation research journal in December, and the publication was rejected. So we then made some corrections and sent the paper to the Cardiovascular Research Journal, where we were asked to conduct more experiments, re-structure the paper and then re-submit.
So, it does take a long time to publish, but it is all worth it in the end!
- Elizabeth Forrester, final-year PhD student -
I have three other published papers where I am a second author, published in 2021, 2022, and 2023. My first paper was the research I did in my final year dissertation on prostacyclin responses in male and female rats with Dr Sam Baldwin, one of Iain Greenwood's PhD students at the time. Sam then published his work on the oestrous cycle‐dependent regulation of rat arterial KV7.4 channels in 2022, for which I was lucky to be the second author.
Throughout all these publications, Iain Greenwood was brilliant at giving guidance and support, as well as, helping form the paper and always suggesting new experiments to develop the story.
What would you say to any current City St George’s student considering a PhD? Is there anything you know now that you wished you’d known before?
I would say find out first what research you enjoy and ask to get experience in the labs at St George’s to see if you enjoy it. If there’s one thing I would have wanted to know before, it would be that there are loads of professors and postdocs willing to help and give guidance, so don’t be shy to ask around.
- Elizabeth Forrester, final-year PhD student. -
The website “FindAPhD.com is also a great way to see what’s out there, and opportunities are always out there.
Lastly, few people know that you don’t need a master's degree to do a PhD! If you have a 2.1 or 1st in your undergraduate degree, you can do a PhD, and there are many available for final-year undergraduate students at St George’s!