BU toxicologist honoured in London

Date: 23 December 2010

PhD student wins LTG John Jackson Prize

Bournemouth University (BU) PhD student Hannah Bunten has won a prestigious prize from the London Toxicology Group (LTG). Hannah was awarded the LTG John Jackson Prize for the best scientific poster presented at the society's annual Poster Competition in London.

The LTG is a national professional society of clinical and forensic toxicologists from hospitals, university departments and forensic laboratories.

Hannah said: "Mine was the only poster there looking at pharmacogenetics and it got a lot of attention and questions, which shows we are really at the cutting edge of this science."

The poster communicated Hannah's research into methadone susceptibility. During post mortems Hannah screened for CYP2B6 (involved in methadone metabolism) and OPRM1 (the mu opioid receptor, which is the drug target of methadone) genes.

Results showed that gene variations were significantly associated with higher post-mortem methadone concentrations and could possibly be used in the future as a screening tool for methadone susceptibility.

The impact of the research, which was in collaboration with Dundee University, will influence the way methadone maintenance practices are conducted.

Poppy Mclaughlin, Eva Reichardt, Nicola Jones and Mevan Kattan also presented posters at the meeting bringing many congratulations to BU for a significant contribution to the meeting.

The LTG John Jackson Prize marks the end of a successful year for Hannah, who was also awarded a Travel Scholarship by the Society of Forensic Toxicologists to present the same research in Richmond USA in October.

In the future Hannah hopes to develop her research further and has some 'exciting collaborations' in the pipeline which would increase knowledge on methadone in the human body and the effect of OPRM1 and CYP2B6 variations.