Newcastle Mitochondrial Research Group

Person in a green top and glasses smiling in front of a bookshelf.

Best of luck to Newcastle graduate Yasmin Proctor-Kent (PhD, 2021) who is competing in this year's The Great British Sewing Bee 📺

The second episode of the series airs tonight at 9pm on BBC One. Join us in cheering on Yasmin! 🙌

#GreatBritishSewingBee #WeAreNCL

A journey, with challenges but ultimately complete triumph, has gracefully reached its conclusion, opening new windows to the world. Congrats again to our PhD graduates and their supervisors.

Babies from three people's DNA prevents heriditary disease - BBC News The method was pioneered by UK scientists to overcome devastating, often fatal inherited diseases.

And if you missed the BBC news yesterday, here their today’s article
➡️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Eight babies born after Mitochondrial donation The UK’s pioneering licensed IVF technique to reduce the risk of mitochondrial diseases carried out in Newcastle has seen eight babies born, published research shows.

We are delighted to share the news about eight babies born after Mitochondrial donation. Congratulations to Prof McFarland and everyone involved for all the great work through the years!

Here the article from @newcastleuni.bsky.social press office ➡️ www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articl...

Eight babies born after Mitochondrial donation The UK’s pioneering licensed IVF technique to reduce the risk of mitochondrial diseases carried out in Newcastle has seen eight babies born, published research shows.

We're proud to announce our work developing a ground-breaking mitochondrial donation IVF treatment has now seen eight healthy babies born 👶

Find out more 👇

www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articl...

#WeAreNCL #Health #News #Mitochondria

Congratulations to Prof Bobby McFarland & teams @mitonewcastle.bsky.social and
#NewcastleFertilityCentre
And most of all very best wishes to all the families benefitting at last from #mitochondrialdonation

Please share with interested students, and feel free to get in touch with Dr Laura Smith to find out more about this exciting opportunity!

@laurasmithncl.bsky.social @neuroncl.bsky.social @britishneuro.bsky.social @lilyfoundation.bsky.social @mymitomission.bsky.social @newcastleuni.bsky.social

The PhD project will involve studying the mechanisms underlying Alpers’ syndrome, a devastating early-onset form of mitochondrial disease and will be funded by The Noah Jordan Foundation 💚🦕

PhD studentship - Understanding the causes and identifying treatments for Alpers’ syndrome at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - PhD studentship - Understanding the causes and identifying treatments for Alpers’ syndrome at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com

📢 Exciting 3-year funded PhD opportunity 🧠
Prof Bobby McFarland and Dr Laura Smith are advertising for a PhD student to join their lab at the Newcastle Mitochondrial Research Group.

📅 Closing date: 16th July 2025
⏰ Start date: 15th September 2025
To apply: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Jane Zhuk, a PhD student working in our lab also did an excellent job presenting a poster on their Epilepsy Research Institute funded PhD project on mitochondrial epilepsy.
@newcastleuni.bsky.social

Thank you to Megan Wilson, an MRes student currently working in our lab, along with Conor Holly and Jenna Dickin, two students who helped out with this study as part of their undergraduate research projects earlier this year.

Dr Laura Smith had a great time presenting at the British Neuroscience Association (BNA) North East Meeting yesterday and was delighted to be awarded a prize for her talk on characterising neuroinflammatory pathology in POLG-related epilepsy.
@britishneuro.bsky.social

Further coverage of this important work from our colleagues in Melbourne that we are working on with @lifearc.bsky.social to implement in the UK NHS

@newcastleuni.bsky.social @daniellahock.bsky.social

You can find the paper published in Genome Medicine (Hock et al., 2025) here ➡️ genomemedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

New blood test developed to rapidly diagnose rare genetic diseases Researchers have developed a blood test capable of rapidly diagnosing rare genetic diseases in babies and children, eliminating costly and invasive procedures and giving earlier access to treatment.

New blood test developed to rapidly diagnose rare genetic disorders 🧬🩸

Prof Rob Taylor talks about this exciting approach here ➡️ www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articl...

@taylorlabncl.bsky.social

We are excited to share with you some details behind our new project to transform the mitochondrial research landscape

➡️ LifeArc Centre for Rare Mitochondrial Diseases 💚

Mitochondrial DNA: A Maternal Legacy That Helps Trace the Past and Diagnose the Future The mitochondrial genome can help researchers map ancestry and better understand the inheritance of mitochondrial diseases.

Good evening read

www.the-scientist.com/mitochondria...

What an amazing day for the launch of the LifeArc Centre for Rare Mitochondrial Disease!

@lifearc.bsky.social

⬆️🔝From the Mitochondrial Research Group at the House of Lords: Prof Hudson, Prof McFarland, Dr Pickett and Prof Taylor.

The new LifeArc Centre for Rare Mitochondrial Diseases promises to deliver better diagnostics, biomarkers and new treatments for families with #mitodisease 💚

We are excited to join friends and colleagues from @lilyfoundation.bsky.social , @mdukcharity.bsky.social , @uniofcam.bsky.social and @ucl.ac.uk
at the House of Lords to launch the new LifeArc Centre for Rare Mitochondrial Disease
#mitodisease

What to find the Bluesky acount for one of our researchers? Here' a handy-dandy starter pack for you.

go.bsky.app/98NSnmp

Mitochondrial Patient Information Day ⬇️🔝💚

Dr Valeria Di Leo, and Professor Robert Taylor (who gave an amazing update on the LifeArc Centre for Rare Mitochondrial Diseases).

Dania Hammadi, Dr James Lambton, Dr Imogen Franklin (congrats on winning a poster prize 🏆), Dr Tiago Gomes

Last week, members of the Mitochondrial Research Group attended the #18thNeuromuscularTranslationalResearchConference in Newcastle upon Tyne.
It was an amazing time 💚✨
Thanks to everyone who presented their research!
@newcastleuni.bsky.social

This is an amazing opportunity to translate mitochondrial research into clinical practice. We are delighted to be involved and look forward to continuing to work together.

As part of this, Newcastle University is highlighting two women from the Mitochondrial Research Group, who are accelerating action towards equity in their fields, embodying this year’s theme:
@joannaelson.bsky.social and @vdileo.bsky.social

Congratulations!

#WeAreNCL 💜

This #InternationalWomensDay, @newcastleuni.bsky.social is celebrating all the incredible women in our community and their achievements

#AccelerateAction #IWD2025

eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

Congratulations to Dr Lu who successfully defended her PhD thesis last week! 🥳
Thanks to Dr joannaelson.bsky.social and Dr Ilse Pienaar (supervisors).