Dr Denise V. Dear

Denise joined ARU Peterborough in 2023 as a Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences.

Email: [email protected]

Background

Denise graduated as an anatomical scientist at University of Birmingham Medical School and then took her PhD at University of Cambridge sponsored by Unilever Research with studies on monoclonal antibody

Denise graduated as an anatomical scientist at the University of Birmingham Medical School and then took her PhD at the University of Cambridge sponsored by Unilever Research with studies on monoclonal antibody development investigating the use of heteromyelomas to produce non-rodent antibodies. Following this, she held a number of post-doctoral positions including at the University of Oxford – studying DNA repair mechanisms; at Babraham Institute, Cambridge – studying pig genomics and chromosome-specific libraries and University of Cambridge – studying prion protein expression and detection. In 2012, she was appointed as a Teaching Fellow in Genetics at UCL and became an associate lecturer at ARU, Cambridge.  Having developed an interest in working with adult learners with unconventional academic backgrounds in 2015, she became a Course leader for the ARU-accredited Bioscience degree at University Centre, Harlow and an Access to Medicine course. 

Apart from her scientific qualifications, she holds two postgraduate qualifications in education and higher education from UCL and is an associate fellow of the HEA.  She also has an interest in skills development to increase access across the sector- helping adult learners or learners with unconventional academic backgrounds become potential medics and life scientists sourced from within the FE/HE sector. She has also worked with post-doctoral researchers providing professional development activities such as leadership in research, grantsmanship (employing action learning sets), project management and committee skills within Cambridge University and its colleges as well as on an international level at the University of Kebangsaan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  She founded the International Journal for Researcher Development (now Studies in Graduate and Post-doctoral Education) to provide a forum for publications in the field of policy, practice and professional development of researchers.

Research interests

• Protein aggregation – the role of post-translational modifications in initiating aggregation
• Antioxidants – protection against protein aggregation; identification and profiling of redox switch points of antioxidants
• Gene-editing – potential of evolved integrases to allow large insert integration

Areas of research supervision

• Protein aggregation
• Antioxidants
• General microbiology
• Meta-analyses in health studies
• Gene-editing

Teaching

• BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences
• BSc (Hons) Nursing

Qualifications

• 2014-20, University College, London, PgCert Higher Education
• 2009-11, University College, London, PgDipEducation
• 1983 - 87, Darwin College, University of Cambridge, PhD (Cantab)
• 1980 - 83, University of Birmingham, Sc (Hons)
• 1977 - 79, Girton College, University of Cambridge, Part 1A M.B. Ch.B
• Associate fellow of the HEA
• Postgraduate diplomas from UCL:
  • Education
  • Higher Education

Memberships, editorial boards

• Royal Society of Biology – committee member of East Anglia branch
• Associate Editor and Peer Reviewer ; Studies in Graduate and Post-doctoral Education 2016-current ; previously Founder Member of Editorial Board International Journal for Researcher Development (now Studies in Graduate and Post-doctoral Education) 2008-2016 

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• Gateway Qualifications  – external moderator, subject moderator, - Chair of validation panels
• Open University – Research skills module – project supervisor
• Start-up biotech funding – Start Codon - 250K

Selected recent publications

Dear, D.V. (2018) Redox switching of anti-oxidants and the significance for protein aggregation Journal of Alzheimer’s Diseases 64 (3) 7-8. 

Dear, D.V. (2016) Do student-centred learning activities improve learning outcomes on a BTEC Applied Science course taught within a further education setting in the UK?  Journal of Further and Higher Education, Taylor Francis http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0309877X.2016.1177170

Young, D. S., Meersman, F., Oxley, D.,Webster, J., Gill, A.C., Bronstein, I, Lowe, C.R. and Dear, D.V. (2009) Effect of enzymatic deimination on the conformation of recombinant prion protein Biochim Biophys Acta. 1794(8): 1123-33.

Recent presentations and conferences

Dear, DV (2022) Outstanding Commitment to Study award CAVA conference, Churchill College, Cambridge. https://www.cava.ac.uk/2022/12/05/cava-conference-2022/