Ryan Ellison Email & Phone Number

St Helens, England, United Kingdom

North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom

I currently work alongside other senior members of the Kendo club to design training sessions and ensure they run smoothly. I deliver and lead the training sessions. This is both a challenging and fun role, as this requires me to teach complex techniques to club members at a range of levels, ranging from new members with no experience, to other senior members.

North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom

Assisted in delivery of workshops and practical sessions to undergraduate students across Biology, Biochemistry, and Biomedical science degree courses. Co-operated with other graduate teaching assistants and teaching staff to ensure sessions ran smoothly and develop students' understanding.

In my role as president, I was responsible for co-ordinating with other members of the executive committee to manage club finances, equipment orders, organise tournament entry, etc. This included organising our place at the annual “freshers fair” to recruit new members into the club, liaising with the University Sports Federation to secure additional practice times for our club, and organising our annual Varsity Tournament with the Cambridge University Kendo Club, in which we were once again victorious.

During my year as secretary, I secured a mailing list for the club to allow us to more easily inform our members of details such as practice times and upcoming tournaments. I was also in charge of equipment orders for new club members and took minutes at committee meetings.

Oxford, United Kingdom

During this 10-week placement, my research involved exploring the significance of specific phosphorylation sites on the spindle assembly checkpoint protein Mps1, as well as characterising the role of Cdk1 on the activation of Mps1. To achieve this, I used a range of techniques such as siRNA rescue, expression of protein containing specific mutations, treatment of cells with kinase and phosphatase inhibitors, as well as mitotic drugs (e.g. nocodazole), and immunofluorescence microscopy. I learned additional important skills for research science, including image analysis and quantification using ImageJ, data analysis and presentation using Microsoft Excel and PRISM GraphPad, and creating figures using Adobe Illustrator.• Determined optimum concentration of Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor for disruption of the spindle assembly checkpoint in HeLa cells• Verified data previously generated in the lab suggesting that phosphorylation of the spindle assembly checkpoint protein Mps1 by Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 is required for recruitment of further spindle assembly checkpoint proteins.• Determined that specific phosphorylation site on Mps1 is not required for activation of the spindle assembly checkpoint, using siRNA rescue coupled with immunofluorescence microscopy. This was coupled with data from kinase assays in the lab to create a stronger argument.

Oxford, United Kingdom

Oxford, England, United Kingdom

Co-ordinated between staff members and speakers at the event and organised schedule for research talks. Then gave a talk on my own research experience and what options biochemistry undergraduates have when looking for summer research placements.

Produced an article for the student-run University of Oxford publication The Oxford Scientist detailing the history and development of blood transfusions, in a way that it accessible to the general public. This can be found online at: https://issuu.com/bangscience/docs/the-oxford-scientist_mt18_final “Just My Type”

Marseille Area, France

My time as a Laidlaw Scholar has been an eye opener, allowing me to meet so many new people and develop so many new skills. In addition to the leadership qualification that I am currently studying for as part of the Laidlaw Scholarship, I undertook a ten-week research project in the Cascales Lab at the Université Aix-Marseilles in France. The project was on the subject of synthetic biology, engineering a naturally-occurring bacterial weapon for use against cancer cells.My time in the Cascales lab was brilliant, allowing me to get some real hands-on experience with lab work and being responsible for my own project – which I believe will help me greatly in the practical aspect of the next 2 years of my degree. The experience I had there solidified in my mind that I would enjoy a career in research, as not only was I essentially living the life of a researcher, I also had many conversations with my lab colleagues. They included current PhD students as well as permanent researchers, and they told me about their experiences throughout different stages of their research careers. As such I am, now planning to study for a PhD after my degree. Spending ten weeks in France was also very good for the development of my French skills, especially since my landlady didn’t speak any English!The Marseilles area itself was lovely and I felt very fortunate to be able to live there for 10 weeks and explore what it had to offer, including the numerous parks as well as the beautiful national parks “Calanques”. The Marseilles kendo club were also kind enough to allow me to practice with them for several sessions during my stay, and I also attended the Kenshinkyorai 2018 kendo seminar, where I was fortunate enough to learn from and train with several high-ranking senseis from Japan.

Oxford, United Kingdom

As one of 23 participants of the Krasis Scholarship over the course of 4 weekly sessions, I engaged in a plethora of interesting discussions and analysis on subjects ranging from the formation of minerals in the earth's crust, to how the interpretation of a Buddhist deity changed when moving from China to Japan. Krasis was a wonderful experience for me, allowing me to use skills which I have not had the chance to fully engage since I studied humanities subjects at GCSE, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to discuss and debate the meanings and interpretations behind so many interesting objects and pieces of art from the Ashmolean Museum with my fellow scholars.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Biology

My research project involves improving understanding of bladder cancer, by studying the function of proteins frequently mutated in bladder.

Mbiochem, Biochemistry, Upper Second Class

Activities and Societies: As a member of the Oxford University Kendo club I competed in the 2020 Kendo Varsity with Cambridge University.

A Level, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Extended Project Qualification, A*A*Aa*

Activities and Societies: I participated in the Catenian Brotherhood speaking competition and won the first round, delivering a speech.