research

In March, supported by a Horizon Europe grant led by Dr Elaine Fuertes, Dr Jen Canizales spent two weeks in Italy training in spectrometry techniques to improve airborne allergen analysis. She was supervised and guided by Dr Gabriela Graziani (Politecnico di Milano, Università di Bologna) and Prof Laura Riva (Politecnico di Milano). Whilst there, Jen gave a presentation on the work carried out by the OEM Laboratory Service to staff at students at Politecnico di Milano. 

Dr Patrick Howlett and Dr Johanna Feary both attended the ERS Congress 2025 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Patrick also did a poster presentation on his current research on "the prevalence and determinants of silicosis among current and ex-gemstone miners in Northern Tanzania" (PA1579).

Dr Jen Canizales from our laboratory has been collaborating with Dr Elaine Fuertes from Imperial College London on a project to improve the tracking of airborne pollen allergens. The goal is to provide hay fever sufferers with better tools to manage their symptoms. The project was recently featured on CBS News — you can read the article and watch the news clip using the links below:

Dr Patrick Howlett was shortlisted for the MRC Max Perutz Science Writing Award 2025 for his article on why his area of research matters, titled "Silicosis and tuberculosis: half the world away".

The annual award has been running for 27 years, and is a science communication competition for current MRC PhD students.

The Grenfell Firefighters Study is a cohort study of firefighters from the London Fire Brigade to look at the medium and long term risks associated with firefighting, with a particular emphasis on cardiorespiratory health and cancer. The cohort includes both firefighters who did, and did not attend the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. Recruitment began in late 2019 and finished in 2023.