Dr Alina Finch

Current position(s)

Research Fellow

Institute for Cancer and Genomic Science, University of Birmingham

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/cancer-genomics/index.aspx 

Qualifications

1^st Class (Hons) BSc Medical Physiology, University of Leicester (2014)

PhD Ion Channel Physiology, University of Leicester (2018)

Short biography

Dr Alina Finch graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Medical Physiology in 2014 and went on to complete her PhD in Ion Channel Physiology in 2018, both at the University of Leicester. Her PhD focused on studying the structure and function of the oncogenic potassium channel, hEAG1. Currently, Dr Finch is a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham where she is working on generating complex, patient-specific pre-clinical models of brain cancer so that in vitro testing of novel therapies is more clinically relevant. She is interested in understanding the interaction between tumour and healthy brain cells as well as mechanisms of tumour cell invasion.

Research & clinical interests

Dr Finch is interested in improving pre-clinical testing of novel therapies for a range of brain tumours, in a patient-specific manner. To do this, she utilises 3D patient-specific tumoursphere models and cerebral organoids to model the development, growth and progression of brain tumours, specifically GBM. At a mechanistic level, she is interested in understanding how tumour cells invade surrounding healthy brain tissue to seed recurrent tumours and also how tumour cells interact with their environment including: neurons, astrocytes and immune cells.

Committees 

BNOS

Selected publications

Jenkins, E. P. W., Finch, A., Gerigk, M., Triantis, I. F., Watts, C and Malliaras, G. G. Electrotherapies for Glioblastoma. 2021. Advanced Science.

Watts, C., Ashkan, K., Jenkinson, M. D., Price, S. J., Santarius, T., Matys, T., Zhang, T. T., Finch, A., Collins, P., Allinson, K., Jefferies, S. J., Scoffings, D. J., Zisakis, A., Phillips, M., Wanek, K., Smith, P., Clifton-Hadley, L and Counsell, N. An Evaluation of the Tolerability and Feasibility of Combining 5-Amino-Levulinic Acid (5-ALA) with BCNU Wafers in the Surgical Management of Primary Glioblastoma. 2021. Cancers. 13 (13)

Finch, A., Solomou, G., Wykes, V., Pohl, U., Bardella, C and Watts, C. Advances in research of adult gliomas. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2021. 22 (2)