Dr Emily Cottrell
MBChB (Hons), MRCPCH, PGCert (Merit), FHEA, PhD
School of Medicine and Population Health
Bicentennial Research Fellow (Clinical)
Honorary Fellow in Clinical Genetics, 91Ö±²¥ Children’s NHS Foundation Trust


Full contact details
School of Medicine and Population Health
D39
Firth Court
Western Bank
91Ö±²¥
S10 2TN
- Profile
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For enquiries please contact - SMPH-West-Operational@sheffield.ac.uk
I am a Paediatrician by background and have always been fascinated by genetics. My PhD research focused on identifying novel genetic causes of growth failure in childhood. I performed bioinformatic analysis to identify novel genetic variants of interest in patients without a genetic diagnosis. I then functionally assessed these variants using a range of laboratory techniques including fibroblast culture, transient transfection, Gibson assembly, splicing assays and site directed mutagenesis.
My current role as a Bicentennial Clinical Research Fellow focuses on HNRNPU-related neurodevelopmental disorder, a rare genetic condition causing developmental delay and seizures in childhood. I am collating data for a natural history study to better understand the phenotype-genotype correlation and the seizure and growth features of the condition. I am also building the AAV HNRNPU vector that will provide preliminary data for development of the first in-human gene therapy for HNRNPU-related neurodevelopmental disorder.
- Qualifications
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- MBChB (Honours), University of Manchester, 2012
- MRCPCH, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, 2016
- Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Education, University of Leeds, 2017. Now recognised as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
- PhD ‘Characterising novel genetic causes of growth failure,’ Queen Mary University London, awarded 2023
- Research interests
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My research interests are rare genetic disease, bioinformatic analysis and in silico prediction models, functional analysis of novel genetic variants and developing novel therapeutic strategies for paediatric genetic conditions. I am also interested in clinical trial delivery and recently completed a 6 month period as NIHR Associate Primary Investigator on the SurfON neonatal clinical trial.
- Publications
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Featured publications
Journal articles
All publications
Journal articles
Conference proceedings papers
- Research group
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I am a member of the Balasubramanian Research Group, led by Professor Meena Balasubramanian and the Wilson Research Group, led by Professor Stuart Wilson.
- Teaching interests
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I am very enthusiastic about teaching and have held several teaching roles during my career so far. I completed my Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Education in 2017.
At medical school, I founded MUMPS (Manchester University Medics Paediatrics Society) and acted as co-president for 2 years. I arranged regular teaching events from a variety of interesting speakers and delivered teaching myself at revision sessions.
As an FY2 doctor, I was appointed FY1 teaching lead and arranged weekly afternoon teaching for the FY1 doctors in Pennine Acute NHS Trust.
As an ST3 Paediatric trainee, I was appointed Honorary Lecturer for Paediatrics at the University of Leeds. I co-ordinated paediatric teaching for University of Leeds medical students during their paediatric placements and supervised a small tutor group each rotation. I delivered interactive teaching sessions and received formal written feedback which I used toelp continually develop the teaching sessions. I was awarded a green card commendation for 'going above and beyond the expectations of medical students during clinical placements and teaching sessions.'
As a research fellow, I have delivered teaching sessions to biomedical and medical students and acted as a PBL (Problem Based Learning) facilitator. I have taught practical lab techniques to MsC students and clinical skills to medical students.
- Current projects
- I am collating clinical data and samples for our HNRNPU natural history study. This will help us better understand the phenotype-genotype correlation in HNRNPU-related neurodevelopmental disorder, the seizure phenotype and key growth features of the rare paediatric condition.
- I am developing several AAV HNRNPU vectors to determine the optimal features for functional HNRNPU delivery. This will provide preliminary data for development of the first in-human gene therapy for HNRNPU-related neurodevelopmental disorder.