Dr Athina-Myrto (Myrto) Chioni
Faculties, deparments and locations
- Faculty of Health, Science, Social Care and Education
- Department of Biomolecular Sciences
- School of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry
- Penrhyn Road
Senior lecturer in Pathobiology and Cancer Biology
- Email:
- a.chioni@kingston.ac.uk
About
I completed my undergraduate degree in Biology from Imperial College London, obtained my MSc in Molecular Medicine in 2001 and my PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from Imperial College London where I was awarded the Imperial College Marshall Scholarship (annual award for research in Biology) and the A.G. Leventis Foundation Studentship.
During my doctoral studies, I investigated the expression of Voltage-gated sodium channels in human breast cancer cell lines in relation to metastatic potential.
Upon completion of my PhD in 2006, I joined Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, QMUL (Institute of Cancer, Centre for Tumour Biology) in order to conduct postdoctoral research investigating the role of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signalling in organogenesis, epithelial development, tissue repair and cancer.
During my academic career, I have presented my work at a number of key conferences and meetings in the field of cancer research.
I have had the great honour to receive a number of very prestigious awards, including: the Papanikolau first prize award (Hellenic Medical Society of Great Britain) and the first prize for an oral scientific presentation at Sylvia Lawler meeting (Royal Society of Medicine) in 2011 and 2012. Other awards include the William Harvey day 'Barts and The London' Poster presentation award in 2008 and 2011, junk the jargon competition at QMUL (first prize winner) in 2011, 1st prize for an oral presentation at Barts and Queen Mary Science Festival in 2012, Poster presentation award at Gordon Conference 'Fibroblast Growth Factors in Development & Disease' in 2012. I have also twice been awarded a three-year Breast Cancer campaign project grant as a named researcher, in 2009 and 2013.
In September 2014, I joined the School of Science as a lecturer in Biomedical Sciences at Kingston University and in 2016 became a senior lecturer in Biomedical Sciences and deputy course director BSc BMS.
Qualifications
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2015)
- Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2015)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Queen Mary University of London, Barts Cancer Institute, Department of Tumour Biology (2006-214)
- PhD Imperial College London (2003-2006)
- MSc Molecular Medicine, Imperial College London (2001-2002)
- BSc (Hons) Biology, Imperial College London (1998-2001)
- Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy (2022)
- Fellow of Institute of Biomedical Sciences (FIBMS) and Fellow of Royal Society of Biology (FRSB)
Domains
Qualifications
- SFHEA (2022)
Courses taught
My principal research interests focus on fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signalling in cancer and drug resistance. The FGF receptor (FGFR) signalling pathway is implicated in a wide range of pathologies, most notably cancer, yet its efficient targeting is proving challenging to the pharmaceutical industry, partly because FGFR signalling is fundamental to so many normal biological processes. My previous research demonstrated that FGFR in breast, pancreatic and cervical cancer play pivotal role. In some cases it can get cleaved and translocate into the nucleus, acting as a potential transcription factor that can alter metastatic cell behaviour. Previous studies have also demonstrated the presence of full length nuclear FGFR but never the cleaved form. Targeting this novel aspect of FGFR signalling might represent a novel therapeutic approach in blocking cancer invasion.
Current research students:
1. Mrs Nauf Bou Antoun (PhD); 30/October/2017.
Supervisory team: Dr Athina Myrto Chioni; Professor Tony Walker and Dr Elena Polycarpou
"Profiling wild type and FGFR inhibitor drug resistant cervical cancer cell lines"
2. Mrs Sai Prasanna Suddapalli (PhD); 14/September/2020.
Supervisory team: Dr Stephen Wren; Dr Athina-Myrto Chioni and Dr Ian Beadham
"Photochemical synthesis of novel heterocycles as anti-cancer agents"
3. Miss Adejoke Omolara Sunday (PhD); 06/January/2020
Supervisory team: Dr Michael Stolinski; Dr Athina-Myrto Chioni and Dr Elizabeth Opara
"In vitro, in vivo and ex vivo investigations of the anti-inflammatory properties of culinary herbs and spices when combined with non-herb foods"
4. Mr James J Scanlon (MRes); March 2021
Supervisory team: Dr Stephen Wren; Dr Athina-Myrto Chioni
"Design and synthesis of novel non-peptidic KISS1R antagonists to restore drug sensitivity to triple-negative breast cancer patients"
Successful supervisions as first supervisor:
Mahmood, Hiba-Tun-Noor A. (PhD; " FGFR Signalling in Human Cervical Cancer Cell Lines"; 2020)
Ashiq, Fazeela (Masters of Science by Research; "Investigating the Involvement of FGFR Signalling in Cervical Cancer using a 3D Organotypic Model"; 2017)
Qualifications
- Internal and external examiner for research degrees
- Guest Editor for IJMS. Special Issue
- Review Editor at Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology-Cancer Cell Biology (March 2023-Present)
Specialisms
- Confocal & Fluorescent Microscopy
- Cell, Tissue & 3D Organotypic Cultures
- Immunocytochemistry and Immunohistochemistry
- Cell, Molecular & Cancer Biology
- Functional Studies
Scholarly affiliations
- Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (FIBMS)
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology
- Member of the Genetics Society
- Member of the European Association of Cancer Research (EACR)
Qualifications and expertise
- External Examiner for BSc Medical Biosciences at Imperial College London (2017-2021)
- External Examiner for Bioscience undergraduate BSc programmes at the University of Hertfordshire (2021-Present)
- External advisor for an MSc course at QMUL
- Member of the Faculty of Health, Sciences, Social Care & Education (HSSCE) Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) action group
- EACR Ambassador
- Review Editor at Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology-Cancer Cell Biology (March 2023-Present)
Qualifications and expertise
- Deputy Course Leader for BSc (Honours) Biomedical Sciences - 2016- 2021
- Module Leader LS5009 Pathobiology 2014- Present
- External Examiner for BSc Medical Biosciences at Imperial College London 2017-2021
- Internal and External Examiner for Research Degrees
- External Examiner for Bioscience undergraduate BSc programmes at the University of Hertfordshire (2021-Present)
- Member of Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Leadership and Policy Making group
Publications
Development and characterization of three novel FGFR inhibitor resistant cervical cancer cell lines to help drive cervical cancer research
Bou Antoun, Nauf, Afshan Mahmood, Hiba-Tun-Noor, Walker, Anthony J., Modjtahedi, Helmout, Grose, Richard P. and Chioni, Athina-Myrto, 2025, International Journal of Molecular Sciences (26), 5, pp 1799
KISS1R antagonism as a promising anti-cancer approach : an overview on function, molecular mechanisms and therapeutic potential
Scanlon, James J, Bristow, Aidan P, Chioni, Athina-Myrto and Wren, Stephen P, 2024, Journal on Oncology
Dysregulated signalling pathways driving anticancer drug resistance
Bou Antoun, Nauf and Chioni, Athina-Myrto, 2023, International Journal of Molecular Sciences (24), 15, pp 12222
FGF signalling facilitates cervical cancer progression
Mahmood, Hiba-Tun-Noor Afshan, Tomas Bort, Elena, Walker, Anthony J., Grose, Richard P. and Chioni, Athina-Myrto, 2022, FEBS Journal (289), 12, pp 3440-3456
Biological significance and targeting of the FGFR axis in cancer
Chioni, Athina-Myrto and Grose, Richard P., 2021, Cancers (13), 22, pp 5681
The ins and outs of fibroblast growth factor receptor signalling
Coleman, Stacey J., Bruce, Charo, Chioni, Athina‑Myrto, Kocher, Hemant M. and Grose, Richard P., 2014, Clinical Science (127), 4, pp 217-231
Identification of ZDHHC14 as a novel human tumour suppressor gene
Yeste-Velasco, Marc, Mao, Xueying, Grose, Richard, Kudahetti, Sakunthala C, Lin, Dongmei, Marzec, Jacek, Vasiljevic, Natasa, Chaplin, Tracy, Xue, Liyan, Xu, Maojia, Foster, Julie M, Karnam, Santi S, James, Sharon Y, Chioni, Athina-Myrto, Gould, David, Lorincz, Attila T, Oliver, R Tim D, Chelala, Claude, Thomas, Gareth M, Shipley, Janet M, Mather, Stephen J, Berney, Daniel M, Young, Bryan D and Lu, Yong-Jie, 2014, The Journal of Pathology (232), 5, pp 566-577
Nuclear translocation of FGFR1 and FGF2 in pancreatic stellate cells facilitates pancreatic cancer cell invasion
Coleman, Stacey J, Chioni, Athina-Myrto, Ghallab, Mohammed, Anderson, Rhys K, Lemoine, Nicholas R, Kocher, Hemant M and Grose, Ricahrd P, 2014, EMBO Molecular Medicine (6), 4, pp 467-481
FGFR1 cleavage and nuclear translocation regulates breast cancer cell behavior
Chioni, Athina-Myrto and Grose, Richard, 2012, The Journal of Cell Biology (JCB) (197), 6, pp 801-817
Fibroblast Growth Factor 22 is not essential for skin development and repair but plays a role in tumorigenesis
Jarosz, Monika, Robbez-Masson, Luisa, Chioni, Athina-Myrto, Cross, Barbara, Rosewell, Ian and Grose, Richard, 2012, PLoS ONE (7), 6, pp e39436
Protein kinase A and regulation of neonatal Nav1.5 expression in human breast cancer cells: Activity-dependent positive feedback and cellular migration
Chioni, Athina-Myrto, Shao, Dongmin, Grose, Richard and Djamgoz, Mustafa B.A., 2010, (42), 2, pp 346-358
Negative regulation of fibroblast growth factor 10 (FGF-10) by polyoma enhancer activator 3 (PEA3)
Chioni, Athina-Myrto and Grose, Richard, 2009, European Journal of Cell Biology (88), 7, pp 371-384
A novel adhesion molecule in human breast cancer cells: Voltage-gated Na[sup]+ channel [beta]1 subunit
Chioni, Athina-Myrto, Brackenbury, William J., Calhoun, Jeffrey D., Isom, Lori L. and Djamgoz, Mustafa B.A., 2009, (41), 5, pp 1216-1227
Organotypic modelling as a means of investigating epithelial-stromal interactions during tumourigenesis
Chioni, Athina-Myrto and Grose, Richard, 2008, (1), 1, pp 8
3D organotypic culture model to study components of ERK signaling
Chioni, Athina-Myrto, Bajwa, Rabia Tayba and Grose, Richard (2016). In: Jimenez, Gerardo, (ed.), ERK signaling : methods and protocols. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp 255-267
The FGFR receptor family
Fearon, Abbie E., Chioni, Athina-Myrto and Grose, Richard P. (2015). In: Wheeler, Deric L., (eds.) and Yarden, Yosef, (eds.), Receptor Tyrosine Kinases : family and subfamilies. Cham: Springer, pp 265-295
Differentially expressed genes between wild type and drug resistant human cervical cancer cell lines
Bou Antoun, Nauf and Chioni, Athina-Myrto(2023). In: 6th Edition of International Cancer Conference, 17-19 August 2023 :London, U.K. (Held online)
Investigating mechanisms of drug resistance in cervical cancer
Bou Antoun, Nauf and Chioni, Athina-Myrto(2023). In: International conference on cancer and oncology research, 19-20 June 2023 :Rome, Italy
Investigating the role of FGFR signalling in cervical cancer
Chioni, Athina-Myrto, Mahmood, Hiba-Tun-Noor A. and Ashiq, Fazeela(2017). In: NCRI Cancer Conference 2017, 05 - 08 Nov 2017 :Liverpool, U.K.
Gallery of work
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Front Cover at The FEBS Journal Volume 289, Issue 12 Jun 2022; Pages3281-3588
FGF signalling in cervical cancer
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Guest Editor for a Special Issue in IJMS
"Molecular Insight into Cell Signalling Proteins"
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Graphical Abstract Mahmood HA, Tomas Bort E, Walker AJ, Grose RP, Chioni AM. FGF signalling facilitates cervical cancer progression. FEBS J. 2022 Jun;289(12):3440-3456. doi: 10.1111/febs.16331. Epub 2022 Jan 3. PMID: 34951738.
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FGFR1 localises to the nucleus in invading cells in 3D culture and in vivo.
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Presenting our latest work at the International Conference on Cancer and Oncology Research (SCI Synopsis). Dr Chioni's PhD student, Nauf Bou Antoun, was selected to give a talk.
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Oral presentation of our work on drug resistant in cervical cancer cell lines at ICC 2023 Conference by Dr Chioni's PhD Student , Nauf Bou Antoun
International Cancer Conference 2023
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EACR Member & Ambassador
EACR
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PGC Cancer World Conference
Attended and presented our work at CWC https://www.cancerglobalconference.com/speakers/Athina-Myrto-Chioni
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Bou Antoun N, Chioni AM. Dysregulated Signalling Pathways Driving Anticancer Drug Resistance. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jul 30;24(15):12222. doi: 10.3390/ijms241512222. PMID: 37569598; PMCID: PMC10418675.
Dysregulated Signalling Pathways Driving Anticancer Drug Resistance
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Certificate of presenting at Cancer World Conference 2023, Miami, Florida, USA
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EACR conference
PHLDA1 restores chemosensitivity in human cervical cancer cell lines
