News
SEMS researcher wins prestigious Postdoctoral Researcher Medal
20 January 2025

The British Society for Cell Biology’s (BSCB) Postdoctoral Researcher Medal is awarded to one early career researcher who has made a major contribution to cell biology during their training in the UK or Ireland.
This year’s winner is Queen Mary’s Dr Pamela Swiatlowska. Dr Swiatlowska has been a Postdoctural Research Assistant in Prof Thomas Iskratsch’s group since 2020, and in 2023 also became the British Heart Foundation Fellow at the Centre of Research Excellence at Imperial College London.
Prof Iskratsch thinks her win was thoroughly deserved; “I could not think of a better recipient for this award than Pamela. Pamela’s creativity, dedication and rigour were key for the success of her research project, resulting in two high impact first author publications. Additionally, she is always helping and mentoring other group members and engaged in many school and faculty wide activities, such as postdoctoral committees or the LEAF programme to improve research sustainability.”
Her work primarily investigates cardiovascular mechanobiology, looking at how cells sense and respond to their environment. She is currently working on understanding nuclear mechano-genomics in cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure, atherosclerosis.
As well as excellence in her scientific work and independent contribution to her group’s project, she was also selected as the awardee for her community engagement and demonstration of leadership. Over the past four years, she has engaged with outreach activities including founding a mentoring programme, organising a seminar series and leading a local team for the Pint of Science festival.
“I’m really grateful for this recognition, which acknowledges my past achievements and at the same time, motivates me to continue conducting impactful research. This moment provides a chance to stop and reflect on the challenges overcome as well as the successes achieved along the way. It's also a unique opportunity to highlight the exciting advancements in the growing field of mechanobiology” Dr Swiatlowska said.
She will be presented with the medal at the BSCB annual meeting in March, where she will give a talk on her research.
Contact: | Thomas Iskratsch |
Email: | t.iskratsch@qmul.ac.uk |
People: | Thomas ISKRATSCH Pamela SWIATLOWSKA |