Name:
Selina Wray
Job title:
Professor of Molecular Neuroscience & Alzheimer’s Research UK Senior Research Fellow
Place of work / study:
UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
Area of Research:
Molecular mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia with a focus on the use of patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell models
How is your work funded?
We receive funding from ARUK, Alzheimer’s Society, NIHR, BBSRC and EPSRC
Tell us a little about yourself:
I am a Professor of Molecular Neuroscience and an Alzheimer’s Research UK Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology.
I received my MSci in Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry from the University of Nottingham in 2004, before undertaking PhD training in Dr Diane Hanger’s laboratory at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London. I was awarded my PhD in 2008 and subsequently joined the laboratory of Professor John Hardy at UCL Institute of Neurology as an Alzheimer’s Research UK Junior Research Fellow.
In addition to my research I have been committed to public engagement and raising awareness of dementia, and I was awarded the 2018 ARUK David Hague Early Career Investigator of the Year award and the 2014 Red Magazine Woman of the Year award in the Pioneer category.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
I have run four marathons and hoping to get another one in before I turn 40 in 2022!
Why did you choose to work in dementia?
I became interested in neurodegenerative disease as an undergraduate, because I found the lectures on my biochemistry course on protein quality control and aggregation fascinating. My PhD coincided with an increase in momentum on raising awareness of the importance of dementia, and the need to have as much capacity as possible in this important area motivated me to continue my research into Alzheimer’s disease.