Hardip Sandhu

I obtained my BSc (Hons) Biochemistry in 2002 and an MSc Biochemistry in 2005 at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. After my training I was employed as a research assistant at Panum Institute with Prof. Sakari Kauppinen and as a result I obtained a great deal of experience in a number of techniques that are of great value, including print of LNA microarrays, hybridization of microRNA samples to LNA microarrays, scanning, analysis of the results, and real time PCR validation of microRNAs.

I successfully undertook and defended my PhD at the Department of Clinical Experimental Research at the Glostrup Research Institute (Glostrup University Hospital, Denmark) in March 2011. During my PhD I undertook studies using techniques such as wire myography, real time PCR, and immunohistochemistry. After my PhD I worked on an interim project in collaboration with Prof. Flemming Pociot in the same department at Glostrup Hopsital, investigating biomarkers of diabetes type I in children, employing real time PCR techniques to observe microRNA differential expression.

I am now employed at FRC ABES (Coventry University) as a Postdoctoral fellow in the research team of Profs Alfonso Jimenez and Helen Maddock, where I am assessing the effect of chemotherapy treatment-induced cardiotoxicity in vulnerable patient groups, such as children. Early assessment of cardiac injury and implementation of adjunct therapy options are explored in our diverse and dynamic team.

Early detection of drug-induced cardiotoxicity is an important area of research, as reliable assessment method is still lacking specificity and sensitivity. A translational pre-clinical to clinical project including the latest molecular biology and genomic assays, including microRNA expression profiling, will aim to determine the feasibility of using a variety of biochemical and genomic microRNA biomarkers to help determine subclinical cardiac dysfunction in patients treated with chemotherapy. The intracellular pathways linked to cardiac injury develoment are unraveled and adjunct therapy options are explored. The research projects are instinctive progression of my current research expertise, combining genomic and molecular biology techniques to determine the complex links between drug safety interactions and pathophysiological disease conditions.