Dr Samantha Alsbury

Dr Samantha Alsbury read her BSc in molecular biology and genetics at the University of East Anglia, graduating in 1999.

Dr Alsbury's doctoral studies focussed on applying her skills in molecular biology and genetics to the field of aging research, this was also a first foray into neurobiology. Her studies focussed on trying to determine whether the age associated loss of heat shock protein function could be overcome to protect neurons from age related diseases.

Continuing with a theme of using molecular biology and genetics to answer questions in neurobiology Dr Alsbury moved to King's College London in 2005 to work on axon guidance using Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism.

Dr Alsbury joined the University of Greenwich in 2011 and maintains a close collaboration with the MRC Centre in Developmental Neurobiology at King's College London as a visiting research fellow.

Responsibilities with the university

Employability Mentor

Course co-ordinator

Molecular and general genetics
Human Molecular biology

Course participation undergraduate

Fundamentals of biochemistry
Fundamentals of biology and physiology
Practical and professional skills

Course participation postgraduate

Applied molecular biology
Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
Pharmaceutical Microbiology

Research interests

Dr Alsbury's research interests span genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, neurobiology and developmental biology.

The main focus of Dr Alsbury's research continues to be on trying to understand how the wiring of the nervous system is established through her research into axon guidance in the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, and the use of Drosophila as a powerful genetic model organism.

Other current research interests include using genetic techniques to investigate the speciation of bats in South-East Asia.

Selected publications

Alsbury, S., Okafuji, T., O’Keeffe, S., Hokamp, K., Mitchell, K.J. and Tear, G. A bioinformatic and in situ screen for novel axon guidance molecules. Axon guidance, synaptic plasticity and regeneration conference CSHL 2010.

Dolan, J., Walshe, K., Alsbury, S., Hokamp, K., O’Keeffe, S., Okafuji, T., Miller, S.F., Tear, G. and Mitchell, K.J. The extracellular leucine-rich repeat superfamily; a comparative survey and analysis of evolutionary relationships and expression patterns. BMC Genomics (2007) 8:320.

Alsbury, S. Papageorgiou, K. and Latchman, D. Heat shock proteins can protect aged human and rodent cells from different stressful stimuli. Mechanisms of ageing and development (2004) 125:201-209.