½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ

PhD student presents pituitary tumour research at European genetics conference

Emma Jayne Spiteri, a final-year PhD student within the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, was selected to present part of her doctoral research at the . The conference was held in Gothenburg, Sweden, and is one of Europe's leading scientific meetings in human genetics, bringing together researchers, clinicians and healthcare professionals to discuss advances in genetics and precision medicine.

Ms Spiteri presented a poster entitled Candidate Gene Prioritisation in Human Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumours Using Cross-dataset Single-cell Transcriptomic Analysis. The conference provided an excellent platform to share her work with international experts, engage in scientific discussions and gain feedback to support the ongoing development of her research.

Her PhD research investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying human pituitary neuroendocrine tumours (PitNETs), with a particular focus on integrating spatial biology approaches with multi-layers molecular data. By combining information from tumour tissue in different biological contexts, the work aims to improve how potential disease-driving genes are identified and prioritised. Furthermore, this approach enables a deeper understanding of differences in cell type composition, functioning pathway activity, and molecular behaviour across distinct tumour subtypes and regions within the tumour.

Ms Spiteri's PhD is supervised by Prof. Josanne Vassallo and Prof. Nikolai Paul Pace. The project is strengthened through collaborations with the Medical Oncology team at the Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy, as well as the Birmingham Tissue Analytics (BTA) group at the University of Birmingham, England, enabling access to interdisciplinary expertise and advanced spatial technologies.

The research is supported through the Tertiary Education Scholarship Scheme (TESS) and the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Research Grants for Doctoral Researchers. Her participation at the ESHG 2026 reflects the importance of international engagement in advancing research in human genetics and provided an opportunity to showcase ongoing work within a leading European scientific forum.