Ms Mariia Grudina

Research student

My research interest is understanding biology behind the effect of the red light therapy on mitochondria and cellular function. The aim of my project is to investigate this novel therapy to prevent or decrease loss of retinal ganglion cells assosiated with mitochondrial optic neuropathies. I started my PhD in October 2021, supervised by Professor Marcela Votruba, Dr Ben Mead and Dr Malgorzata Rozanowska.

I am currently doing my PhD at Cardiff University and investigating the effect of the novel therapies on mitochondrial optic neuropathies using human induced pluripotent stem cells.

I have graduated from King's College London where I studied Pharmacology. During my undergraduate degree, I have completed a professional placement year in National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC). There I was working on two different projects both focused on investigating the pathway of haemostasis:

Research project on visualising the clotting cascade and looking at the activity of different recombinant FIX products and their impact on FIXa generation
Investigated the impact of emicizumab (a bispecific monoclonal antibody that mimics activity of FVIIIa in the clotting cascade) on the chromogenic assays for coagulation