Group leaders
Dr Julian Dye MA PhD
Julian read biochemistry at University of Oxford, but whilst having been inspired by some of the great biochemists there, he felt drawn to the hospital environment, where science is forced to confront the multiple realities of human existence head on. His first job was in the Academic Surgical Unit, St Mary's Hospital Paddington. Working under Prof Hugh Dudley, Prof Pierre Guillou, Mr Ara Darzi and Prof Averil Mansfield was a stimulating and rewarding experience in many ways. For his PhD he moved to Anatomy and Physiology, Imperial College, under Dr Lopa Leach, Dr Peter Clark (supervisor) and Prof Tony Firth, focusing on endothelial cell biology. After completing his PhD he did a collaborative post-doc between Imperial and Dr Jo Glazier and Prof Colin Sibley at the Institute of Child Health, St Mary's Hospital Manchester. Soon afterwards, Julian joined RAFT; taking the opportunity to draw on his previous experience in surgical research as well as his specialist interest in endothelial cell biology, and his underlying practical motivation to find a solution to improving treatment for skin loss.
Julian was able to develop and exploit some germinal ideas from his PhD studies, which led to formulating the idea of the 'Smart Matrix' as a scaffold which is intrinsically able to promote ingress of blood capillaries. Currently he and his team are working hard to develop the Smart matrix to the demanding standards required for use in patients.
Dr Rachel Haywood BSc (Hons) PhD
Rachel graduated from York University with an honours degree in Chemistry, and then was later awarded her doctorate (PhD) by York University in 1992. She then took up a Postdoctoral position at the Royal London Hospital Medical College and Queen Mary and Westfield College (London University). Rachel later became a postdoctoral scientist at the RAFT Institute (in collaboration with the Gray Cancer Institute) to study laser interactions with human skin. This led to studies of skin UVA damage and the role of free radicals in skin cancer, specialising in the photochemistry of the natural sunscreen melanin. She was promoted to Group Leader in Free Radical Research in 2004 and is Honorary Lecturer at University College London. She has initiated work into the effectiveness of sunscreens in protecting against UVA and free radical damage to skin. This led to extensive press interest in 2003 in the paper "Sunscreens inadequately protect against UVA-induced free radical damage to skin: implications for skin ageing and melanoma" which has contributed to the change in EU and US legislation with respect to claims made in relation to sunscreen UVA protection. Her work has led to the further understanding of UVA damage to skin, the role of melanin in skin photoprotection, and the development of a new method of UVA testing for sunscreen efficacy.
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