Rahmaneh Moosavi

PhD Medical Studies

My project is on brain metastasis and the formation of secondary tumours from primary breast cancer; my main targets are to assess how the breast cancer cell pass through the brain wall and to understand their interaction with normal brain cells.

In February 2022 I successfully completed my upgrade from MPhil to PhD after performing my upgrade presentation and submitting a plan for the next steps of my research. So far, I have shown that breast cancer cells secrete factors that digest parts of the blood vessel wall making it easier for the circulating cancer cells to stick. I have carried out profiling to start to understand what factors are secreted by the breast cancer that could be responsible, and this work is continuing. I’m also planning work on new breast cancer cell lines such as MCF-7, which is the hormone receptor positive breast cancer cell-line as a control, furthermore brain astrocyte cell line will be examined.

I took a month long break during May 2022 and was able to travel back home to Iran and visit my family for the first time in over a year. I am now back in Exeter and alongside my laboratory research, I’m currently getting prepared to present my research at two conferences in the coming weeks, one will be in Penryn, UK and the other one will be held in Berlin, Germany. I have received a travel award to attend the conference in Berlin and, after having started my studies during the COVID lockdown, I am very much looking to forward to being able to travel and discuss my work with others face to face and network.

I look forward to keeping you updated on my progress and thank you again for your support.

Best regards,

Rahmaneh