Elizabeth Stewart

Contact

• workRoom B Floor, Eye and ENT Building Queen's Medical Centre
  Queen's Medical Centre
  Nottingham
  NG7 2UH
  UK
• work0115 9249924 62530
• fax0115 970 9963
• elizabeth.stewart@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

Dr Elizabeth Stewart gained her undergraduate degree in 2003 in Biochemistry and Genetics at the University of Nottingham. She then continued her studies at the University of Nottingham, completing her PhD in field of Cell Signalling and Biomaterials in 2007. Dr Stewart had been a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in the Division of Ophthalmology since 2007. She has technical expertise in cell culture, transfection and cell behaviour assays, mutagenesis, cloning, genomics and proteomics.

Teaching Summary

Dr Stewart is currently supervising 1 PhD and 1 DM student as well as undergraduate projects.

Research Summary

Neovascular eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy are the leading causes of blindness in the retired and working populations respectively of the western… read more

Selected Publications

• BROWNING AC, HALLIGAN EP, STEWART EA, SWAN DC, DOVE R, SAMARANAYAKE GJ and AMOAKU WM, 2012. Comparative Gene Expression Profiling Of Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells And Ocular Vascular Endothelial Cells. The British Journal Of Ophthalmology. 96(1), 128-32
• STEWART EA, SAMARANAYAKE GJ, BROWNING AC, HOPKINSON A and AMOAKU WM, 2011. Comparison Of Choroidal And Retinal Endothelial Cells: Characteristics And Response To Vegf Isoforms And Anti-Vegf Treatments. Experimental Eye Research. 93(5), 761-6
• EA STEWART, WMK AMOAKU, The in vitro effects of anti-angiogenic AMD treatments on human choroidal endothelial cells In: Acta Ophthalmologica Special Issue: Abstracts from the 2008 European Association for Vision and Eye Research Congress.
• STEWART, E and BROWING, A. AND AMOAKU, W., Human choroidal endothelial cell growth factor signalling in age-related macular degeneration In: Acta Ophthalmologica Special Issue: Abstracts from the 2007 European Association for Vision and Eye Research Congress.

• View all publications

• Teaching - Supervision of postgraduate (PhD/DM) and undergraduate (BMedSci) students
• HTA - Ensure laboratories and records adhere to HTA legislation and pass inspection, including organizing the regular servicing of equipment and requisition of new equipment.
• Divisional Safety Officer - Completion/review of standard operating procedures (SOP) and standard operating procedures equipment (SOPE), risk assessments, COSHH and COSHH risk assessments and related databases.
• Ethical approvals in the department including progress reports, amendments, extensions and new ethical applications.
• Divisional Web Editor - creation and updating of the Division's web pages and intranet, attending meetings with other editor and the school, liaising with staff and student to create content for school and divisional the web pages.

Current Research

Neovascular eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy are the leading causes of blindness in the retired and working populations respectively of the western world. These diseases are caused by new blood vessel formation by endothelial cells of the relevant tissues. Growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are known to be important in the development of the diseases, but current treatments targeting VEGF do not completely stop the diseases. The mechanisms involved in the development of the diseases are complex and not fully understood.

My research focus is the mechanisms of the development of the diseases using an in vitro cell culture system of human primary cells from the sights of the diseases in the back of the eye. We are investigating the effects of different growth factors and anti-angiogenic factors and drugs on the cells at the cell, protein and gene levels. We are using molecular biology techniques to characterise these diseases and identify possible targets for new treatments.

• BROWNING AC, HALLIGAN EP, STEWART EA, SWAN DC, DOVE R, SAMARANAYAKE GJ and AMOAKU WM, 2012. Comparative Gene Expression Profiling Of Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells And Ocular Vascular Endothelial Cells. The British Journal Of Ophthalmology. 96(1), 128-32
• ANDREW C BROWNING, ELIZABETH ANNE STEWART and WINFRIED M AMOAKU, 2012. Authors' response Br J Ophthalmol.
• STEWART EA, SAMARANAYAKE GJ, BROWNING AC, HOPKINSON A and AMOAKU WM, 2011. Comparison Of Choroidal And Retinal Endothelial Cells: Characteristics And Response To Vegf Isoforms And Anti-Vegf Treatments. Experimental Eye Research. 93(5), 761-6
• EA STEWART, WMK AMOAKU, The in vitro effects of anti-angiogenic AMD treatments on human choroidal endothelial cells In: Acta Ophthalmologica Special Issue: Abstracts from the 2008 European Association for Vision and Eye Research Congress.
• STEWART, E and BROWING, A. AND AMOAKU, W., Human choroidal endothelial cell growth factor signalling in age-related macular degeneration In: Acta Ophthalmologica Special Issue: Abstracts from the 2007 European Association for Vision and Eye Research Congress.