Fiona Kerr
fiona kerr

Dr Fiona Kerr

Lecturer

Biography

Dr Fiona Kerr is a Lecturer in Molecular Pharmacology at 麻豆社区, with a focus on studying the molecular links between ageing and Alzheimer鈥檚 disease (AD). Previously, she undertook her PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, investigating the connections between diabetes mellitus and AD pathology using cell culture and animal models, then spent 10 years as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the Institute of Health Ageing, University College London, where she investigated the role of longevity genes in preventing AD pathology using the fruit fly, Drosophila Melanogaster. As a Research Fellow at Glasgow Caledonian University, and now as lecturer at Edinburgh Napier, Fiona is leading her own research, which aims to translate her findings to human systems using neuronal cell culture models. Her work has involved extensive collaborations nationally & internationally, and has been funded by a GCU Research Fellowship & PhD studentship, pilot funding from Tenovus Scotland & Alzheimer's Research UK, Vacation Studentships from the Biochemical 麻豆社区 & the Wellcome Trust and ENU Research Excellence Grants (2016, 2021).

Outside of the lab Fiona is a member of the Alzheimer鈥檚 Research UK Scotland Network Centre, Public Engagement Lead for the SFC Brain Health Alliance for Research Challenge, a Carnegie Research Trust Research Assessor (Science, Engineering & Technology Panel), a member of the Royal 麻豆社区 of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland and European Crucible Alumni. Finally, she is passionate about communicating science to a wide range of audiences, and has been actively involved in Public Engagement activities at the Royal 麻豆社区, the Science Museum (London), and the British Library, as well as in the local community as part of Glasgow Science Festival and GCU Community Science Day events.

Themes

Research Areas

Esteem

Conference Organising Activity

  • Alzheimer's Research UK Conference 2023 Organising Commitee Co-Chair

 

Grant Funding Panel Member

  • Carnegie Trust (Science Engineering & Technology) Panel Member

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Brain Health Alliance for Research Challenge, Public Engagement Lead
  • Royal 麻豆社区 of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland Member
  • European Crucible Almni
  • Alzheimer's Research UK Scotland Network Centre Organising Committee Member
  • Biochemical 麻豆社区, ENU Local Ambassador (2023-26)

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • PhD Examiner, University of Glasgow
  • Postgraduate Research (MRes) Examiner, Lancaster University
  • PhD Examiner University of St Andrews
  • Postgraduate Research (MRes) Examiner Lancaster University
  • Postgraduate Research (MRes) Examiner Lancaster University

 

Date


25 results

Editorial: Aging and neurodegeneration in the brain

Journal Article
Kerr, F., Kinghorn, K. J., Niccoli, T., & Woodling, N. (2025)
Editorial: Aging and neurodegeneration in the brain. Frontiers in Aging, 6, Article 1581161. https://doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2025.1581161
[Abstract unavailable.]

Creating connections: developing an online space for cross-regional mentorship and network building in the dementia research field

Journal Article
Fullerton, J., Bettencourt, C., Daniels, M., Mclean, F., Simpson, S., Smith, A., 鈥err, F. (2022)
Creating connections: developing an online space for cross-regional mentorship and network building in the dementia research field. AMRC Open Research, 4, Article 22. https://doi.org/10.12688/amrcopenres.13091.1
Background Effective development and retention of talented early-career researchers (ECRs) is essential to the continued success of biomedical science research fields. To this...

Investigating The Effectiveness of Keap1-Nrf2 Protein-Protein Interaction Disruptors in Protecting

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Kerr, F., Elsharksai, M., & Wells, G. (2022, March)
Investigating The Effectiveness of Keap1-Nrf2 Protein-Protein Interaction Disruptors in Protecting. Poster presented at Alzheimer's Research UK Annual Conference, Brighton, UK

Building a Systematic Online Living Evidence Summary of COVID-19 Research

Journal Article
Hair, K., Sena, E. S., Wilson, E., Currie, G., Macleod, M., Bahor, Z., 鈥rury, B. (in press)
Building a Systematic Online Living Evidence Summary of COVID-19 Research. Journal of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries, 17(2), 21-26. https://doi.org/10.32384/jeahil17465
Throughout the global coronavirus pandemic, we have seen an unprecedented volume of COVID-19 researchpublications. This vast body of evidence continues to grow, making it diff...

Activating transcription factor 4-dependent lactate dehydrogenase activation as a protective response to amyloid beta toxicity

Journal Article
Niccoli, T., Kerr, F., Snoeren, I., Fabian, D., Aleyakpo, B., Ivanov, D., 鈥artridge, L. (2021)
Activating transcription factor 4-dependent lactate dehydrogenase activation as a protective response to amyloid beta toxicity. Brain Communications, 3(2), https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcab053
Accumulation of amyloid beta peptides is thought to initiate the pathogenesis of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. However, the precise mechanisms mediating their neurotoxicity are unclear...

Dynamic changes in the brain protein interaction network correlates with progression of A尾42 pathology in Drosophila

Journal Article
Scholes, H. M., Cryar, A., Kerr, F., Sutherland, D., Gethings, L. A., Vissers, J. P. C., 鈥halassinos, K. (2020)
Dynamic changes in the brain protein interaction network correlates with progression of A尾42 pathology in Drosophila. Scientific Reports, 10(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74748-9
Alzheimer鈥檚 disease (AD), the most prevalent form of dementia, is a progressive and devastating neurodegenerative condition for which there are no effective treatments. Unders...

The Use of Keap1-Nrf2 Disruptors for Neuroprotection in Alzheimer's disease

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Kerr, F., Elsharkasi, M., & Wells, G. (2020, October)
The Use of Keap1-Nrf2 Disruptors for Neuroprotection in Alzheimer's disease. Presented at 21st International Conference at Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Chicago, USA

Molecular Mechanisms of Lithium Action: Switching the Light on Multiple Targets for Dementia Using Animal Models

Journal Article
Kerr, F., Bjedov, I., & Sofola-Adesakin, O. (2018)
Molecular Mechanisms of Lithium Action: Switching the Light on Multiple Targets for Dementia Using Animal Models. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 11, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2018.00297
Lithium has long been used for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, due to its robust beneficial effect as a mood stabilizing drug. Lithium鈥檚 effectiveness for improving ne...

Direct Keap1-Nrf2 disruption as a potential therapeutic target for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease

Journal Article
Kerr, F., Sofola-Adesakin, O., Ivanov, D. K., Gatliff, J., Gomez Perez-Nievas, B., Bertrand, H. C., 鈥artridge, L. (2017)
Direct Keap1-Nrf2 disruption as a potential therapeutic target for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. PLoS Genetics, 13(3), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006593
Nrf2, a transcriptional activator of cell protection genes, is an attractive therapeutic target for the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer鈥檚 disease...

Increased Glucose Transport into Neurons Rescues A尾 Toxicity in Drosophila

Journal Article
Niccoli, T., Cabecinha, M., Tillmann, A., Kerr, F., Wong, C., Cardenes, D., 鈥artridge, L. (2016)
Increased Glucose Transport into Neurons Rescues A尾 Toxicity in Drosophila. Current Biology, 26(17), 2291-2300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.017
Glucose hypometabolism is a prominent feature of the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Disease progression is associated with a reduction in glucose transporte...

Pre-Napier Funded Projects

  • Scottish Dementia Research Consortium ECR Resource Grant (Supervisor), 拢2.4K, GCU, 2020
  • ARUK, 拢5K, Is histone ubiquitination altered in Alzheimer's disease? GCU, 2019
  • Tenovus Scotland, 拢19.9K, Modifying Keap1-Nrf2 signalling to maintain neuronal integrity in Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. S18-11, GCU, 2018
  • ARUK, 拢400, Future Memories: Glasgow Re-imagines Dementia, GCU, 2018
  • Wellcome Trust Biomedical Vacation Scholarship, 拢2K, Delineating pathways downstream of Keap1-Nrf2 as targets for neuronal protection in AD. GCU, 2018
  • Alzheimer's 麻豆社区, 拢500, Future Memories: Glasgow Re-imagines Dementia, AS-DG-18a-002, GCU, 2018
  • ARUK, 拢419.5K, An investigation of the role of the ageing process in Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease. ART-2009-4, UCL, 2009

Previous Post Grad projects

Non-Napier PhD or MSc by Research supervisions

  • PhD Supervisor (Secondary) Roxanna Munir, Glasgow Caledonian University, Completed
  • PhD Supervisor (Primary) Mohamed Elsharkasi, Glasgow Caledonian University