the protein collagen has been linked with breast cancer at various stages. it’s content has been implicated as a factor for increased risk of breast cancer in dense breast tissue and it’s alignment has been linked to the invasiveness of breast cancer when present. working with clinicians at st. james’s hospital and the mater, ongoing research looks to investigate magnetic resonance imaging to assess its sensitivity to collagen content and alignment in order to offer a non-invasive biomarker for this protein in breast tissue. (polarised light microscopy image of collagen in human breast tissue shown)

using various characterisation techniques, such as second harmonic generation imaging (shown), we aim to characterise collagen content and alignment in human breast tissue to better understand its prevalence and link to breast cancer

working with researchers in trinity college institute of neuroscience we are investigating if structural differences exist in the rat brain during development between males and females.