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Alie Pickwell

Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences

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Biography

Alie graduated from the University of Leeds with a BSc in Genetics, prior to attending the University of Nottingham to gain her Master's in Molecular Diagnostics and Genetics, graduating with her PhD from the School of Veterinary Medicine and Sciences in 2018.

Expertise Summary

Over the course of a varied research career, Alie has evolved as a methodology specialist, drawing on her diverse molecular biology skills to develop and improve research methods. Beyond this Alie has a diverse array of histology based skills and practical skills with animal handling.

Research Summary

Using metabolomics and machine learning to predict lameness outcomes in dairy cows and investigation of mechanistic pathways.

Selected Publications

  • SHERWIN, VIRGINIA E, SANTI, MORENA, WALKER, OLIVIA, PICKWELL, NATALIE D, COFFEY, TRACEY J, LEIGH, JAMES A and EGAN, SHARON A, 2020. PCR-Based Direct Detection of Streptococcus uberis from Subclinical and Clinical Dairy Cattle Milk Samples. Veterinary medicine international. 2020, 8828624

Past Research

To date, Alie has experienced a varied research career.

Her PhD involved using molecular biology skills to develop recombinant enzymes with a view to developing an in vitro toolbox for drug metabolism assays.

Creation of a DNA bank of a dairy herd, by collecting and extracting high quality and quantity DNA from milk for genotyping.

Assessing the molecular stress response in cattle. RNA was isolated from milk from a cohort of dairy cows utilized in a behavioral study to determine whether there was a correlation of stress (and immune) markers.

Investigating host response to footrot. Investigating the gene expression response of cultured sheep fibroblasts and keratinocytes treated with dichelobacter nodosus inactivated by different methods.

Investigation of pollutants in farmed and wild caught tilapia from Lake Victoria. An investigation and comparison into the accumulation of heavy metals, antibiotics, and antimicrobial resistance genetic elements in bacteria from farmed and wild caught tilapia.

Investigating and monitoring the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in wastewater samples across the UK using NGS platforms.

Development and optimisation of a multiplex immunohistochemcial panel for the investigation into the immune response of posterior fossa A brain tumours.

  • BASSANO, IRENE, RAMACHANDRAN, VINOY K, KHALIFA, MOHAMMAD S, LILLEY, CHRIS J, BROWN, MATHEW R, VAN AERLE, RONNY, DENISE, HUBERT, ROWE, WILLIAM, GEORGE, AIREY, CAIRNS, EDWARD, WIERZBICKI, CLAUDIA, PICKWELL, NATALIE D, CARLILE, MATTHEW, HOLMES, NADINE, PAYNE, ALEXANDER, LOOSE, MATTHEW, BURKE, TERRY A, PATERSON, STEVE, WADE, MATTHEW J and GRIMSLEY, JASMINE M S, 2023. Evaluation of variant calling algorithms for wastewater-based epidemiology using mixed populations of SARS-CoV-2 variants in synthetic and wastewater samples. Microbial genomics. 9(4),
  • BLANCHARD, ADAM M., BAUMBACH, CHRISTINA-MARIE, MICHLER, JULE K., PICKWELL, NATALIE D., STALEY, CERI E., FRANKLIN, JEMMA M., WATTEGEDERA, SEAN R., ENTRICAN, GARY and TOTEMEYER, SABINE, 2022. Natural Mycoplasma Infection Reduces Expression of Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines in Response to Ovine Footrot Pathogens ANIMALS. 12(23),
  • RAMACHANDRAN, V., KHALIFA, M. S., LILLEY, C. J., BROWN, M. R., VAN AERLE, R., DENISE, H., ROWE, W., AIREY, G., CAIRNS, E., WIERZBICKI, C., PICKWELL, N. D., WILSON, M., CARLILE, M., HOLMES, N., PAYNE, A., PATERSON, S., LOOSE, M., BURKE, T., WADE, M. J., GRIMSLEY, J. M. S. and BASSANO, I., 2022. Comparison of variant callers for wastewater-based epidemiology medRxiv.
  • SHERWIN, VIRGINIA E, SANTI, MORENA, WALKER, OLIVIA, PICKWELL, NATALIE D, COFFEY, TRACEY J, LEIGH, JAMES A and EGAN, SHARON A, 2020. PCR-Based Direct Detection of Streptococcus uberis from Subclinical and Clinical Dairy Cattle Milk Samples. Veterinary medicine international. 2020, 8828624

School of Veterinary Medicine and Science

University of Nottingham
Sutton Bonington Campus
Leicestershire, LE12 5RD

telephone: +44 (0)115 951 6116
fax: +44 (0)115 951 6415
email: veterinary-enquiries@nottingham.ac.uk