Research

Sophie Morris

PhD Student

Sophie’s time as an acute dietitian encouraged a strong interest in advancing the development of new and better dietary therapies to help increase the quality of life of people living with inflammatory bowel disease. She is currently working towards a PhD with the BIOPIC-Kids study, a multicentre pragmatic randomised control trial. The study aims to investigate the short- and long-term effects of replacing the habitual diet with a liquid diet regime in children with active Crohn’s Disease receiving biologic therapy as their standard of care induction treatment. We will explore whether this treatment combination improve rates of clinical remission, normalisation of biomarkers of gut inflammation and reduce secondary loss of treatment response, and subsequent disease relapse. It will also examine the effects this intervention has on the gut and oral microbiome composition and function and host immune signatures.

Sophie holds a BSc (Hons) in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from Glasgow Caledonian University and is an HCPC registered dietitian.

Haneen Saleemani

PhD student

My research focuses on Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), with a primary emphasis on body composition and response to treatment. I explore how changes in body composition—such as muscle mass and fat distribution—influence treatment outcomes in both children and adults with IBD. Additionally, I explore how IBD and its treatment influence nutritional and growth parameters.

Alongside my core research, I am working on the development of a nutrition risk score for children with IBD through the PIBD Nutrition Risk Score (PIBD-NUTS) project which is a project endorsed by the Porto IBD Club.

Raihana Halim

PhD Student

Phoebe Crossley

PhD Student

Shona Mckirdy

PhD Student

Shona Mckirdy is a PhD student in Professor Gerasimidis' lab, holding a strong interest in the role of diet and the microbiome in the management of gastrointestinal conditions. Shona has been with the BINGO group for 4 years, working firstly as a research assistant on the CD-TREAT and iPENS clinical trials, and is now carrying out a PhD. Shona’s main research project is the UC-TREAT study, which delivers a novel dietary therapy for Ulcerative Colitis designed specifically to target the gut microbiota through the use of high-fibre and fermented foods and berries rich in polyphenols.

Shona holds a Bsc in Physiology, Sports Science, and Nutrition and also carried out a Masters by Research (MScR) project into the effects of multivitamin supplementation on the gut microbiome. Shona is a member of several scientific associations (ie. ECCO, BSG, FEMS), a qualified personal trainer, an avid cook, and also enjoys the odd triathlon.