My name is Bastian Duquesne, and I am currently working as a PhD student at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). My project aims to investigate whether the changes induced in mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) by acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) persist even when malignant stimulus is removed. We want to understand how these changes influence the immune system in the bone marrow microenvironment, specifically through the lens of macrophage polarisation, and how this leads to a pro-tumour niche that favours AML relapse.

I am French (although I’ve never actually lived in France) and I moved to the UK after high school to pursue higher education. Before starting my PhD, I completed my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry (with Biobusiness minor) at the University of Aberdeen and my postgraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of Strathclyde. In these degrees, I completed my thesis projects in neuroscience and parasitology which gave me practice in a wide range of biomedical techniques. Throughout my studies, cancer biology was always the subject in which I was the most interested hence my motivation to pursue a PhD in AML.