The Faculty of Life Sciences added yet another feather to its cap with the appointment of one of the UK’s leading female scientists, Professor Doreen Cantrell. Following her appointment last October, Doreen has until now been dividing her time between Dundee and Cambridge but she has recently begun full-time research work here in Dundee. In addition to bringing more than 20 years of world-leading research experience to the University, Doreen arrives armed with £4 million of funding from The Wellcome Trust.
Doreen is widely respected for her world-leading research into the function of T lymphocytes (white blood cells which control the immune system). Her outstanding contribution to this field is recognised by the Wellcome Trust as she is now one of the few scientists to be awarded a prestigious Wellcome Principal Research Fellowship.
Within the Faculty of Life Sciences’ Division of Cell Biology and Immunology, Doreen leads a team of 12 scientists continuing work in this valuable area of research. The importance of the immune system and the problems resulting from immunodeficiency are clearly illustrated by the devastating impact of the AIDS virus.
Deregulation of the immune system is the basis for other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile diabetes, asthma and cancer.
The rationale behind the work of Doreen’s team is straight forward - we must understand the basic processes of T cell activation in order to devise strategies for immune intervention. Over the last 10 years, Doreen has characterised a number of the key biochemical events that control T cell activation and has made major contributions to understanding how these important cells in our bodies are controlled.
Following completion of her PhD in 1982, Doreen took up a research post in the USA before returning to the UK with a position at the London Research Institute of Cancer Research UK (formerly Imperial Cancer Research Fund), where she set up her own research group, the Lymphocyte Activation Laboratory, in 1987. Her laboratory used biochemistry to study T lymphocyte activation and remains at the forefront of discoveries in the field.
Doreen manages to combine her highly successful scientific career with the many demands of raising a family - she has three girls, aged 17, 14 and 12.