Students
鈥�
PhD student receives ENEA Young Investigator Award at 22nd ENEA Congress
Emma Jayne Spiteri, a final-year PhD student within the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, participated in the 22nd European Neuroendocrine Association (ENEA) Congress, held in Paris, France, from 9 to 12 September 2026.
The congress brought together researchers, clinicians, and healthcare professionals working in the field of neuroendocrinology. It provided an opportunity to share research and discuss developments in the understanding and management of neuroendocrine diseases.
At the congress, Ms Spiteri presented a poster entitled 'Spatial characterisation of the immune landscape in growth hormone-secreting and non-functioning pituitary adenomas in a Maltese population'.
The work addresses gaps in our understanding of how immune cells are spatially organised within these tumours subtypes and how immune-related gene expression varies within the tumour environment. The poster presentation received an ENEA Young Investigator Award, presented by the ENEA Young Researcher Committee (EYRC).
The poster forms part of Ms Spiteri's PhD, supervised by Prof. Josanne Vassallo and Prof. Nikolai Paul Pace. Her doctoral research utilises multi-omics data to investigate tumour heterogeneity, including differences in cell type composition, pathway activity, and molecular characteristics underlying pituitary neuroendocrine tumours (PitNETs).
The work presented at the Congress was carried out in collaboration with Dr Carmine Carbone and Dr Antonio Agostini from the Oncology Lab at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy.
The research is supported through the Tertiary Education Scholarship Scheme (TESS) and the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Research Grants for Doctoral Researchers.
Additional information is available .
