Denise Sheer was appointed Professor of Human Genetics at The Institute of Cell and Molecular Science at

Queen Mary, University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

in November 2006. Her fields of expertise include cell and molecular biology; cancer genetics and

epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable phenotypic changes (known as ''marks'') that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix '' epi-'' ( "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are ...

; and molecular pathology of paediatric brain tumours.

Education and career

Sheer completed a BSc (Hons) degree in

embryology Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos ...

and

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

in 1973, after which she ran the diagnostic

cytogenetics Cytogenetics is essentially a branch of genetics, but is also a part of cell biology/cytology (a subdivision of human anatomy), that is concerned with how the chromosomes relate to cell behaviour, particularly to their behaviour during mitosis an ...

laboratory at the South African Institute of Medical Research for two years. She then moved to the genetics laboratory of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where she was awarded a D.Phil. in 1980. She completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute) and became head of the Human

Cytogenetics Cytogenetics is essentially a branch of genetics, but is also a part of cell biology/cytology (a subdivision of human anatomy), that is concerned with how the chromosomes relate to cell behaviour, particularly to their behaviour during mitosis an ...

Laboratory from 1983 to 2006. Here her work involved the identification of significant genetic aberrations in many

malignant Malignancy () is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse. Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous ''benign'' tumor in that a malignancy is not s ...

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

s and she made critical discoveries on

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

architecture. In 2006 she moved with her research group to the Blizard Institute in the Centre for Genomics and Child Health at

Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, commonly known as Barts or BL, is a medical school, medical and dental school in London, England. The school is part of Queen Mary University of London, a constituent college of the federal Un ...

. Her current research is an interventional clinical trial studying the treatment of young patients with recurrent or

refractory In materials science, a refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase, ...

low grade

glioma A glioma is a type of tumor that starts in the glial cells of the brain or the spine. Gliomas comprise about 30 percent of all brain tumors and central nervous system tumours, and 80 percent of all malignant brain tumours. Signs and symptoms ...

, due for completion in 2020. The group received the Jeremy Jass Prize for Excellence in Pathology for this work. Glioma

Sheer has 273 publications and 11,000 citations listed on ResearchGate and almost 15,000 citations listed on

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes ...

. The work done by Sheer and her group has been funded by The Brain Tumour Charity since 2013 and she won the Research Engagement Award at The Brain Tumour Charity ''Celebrating You'' Awards

References

External links

* * *
Cancer Research UK website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheer, Denise Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford Academics of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry South African geneticists University of the Witwatersrand alumni South African scientists South African women scientists