Sara Rankin

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Sara Rankin
FRSB
Born
Sara Margaret Rankin
Alma materKing's College London (BSc, PhD)
Scientific career
InstitutionsImperial College London
University of California, San Diego
ThesisThe modification,uptake and degradation of low density lipoproteins by macrophages : and the effects of drugs and chemicals on these processes (1989)
Websiteimperial.ac.uk/people/s.rankin

Sara Margaret Rankin FRSB is a professor of Leukocyte and Stem Cell Biology at Imperial College London. She is known for her work in stimulating endogenous bone marrow stem cells to repair the body. Rankin identifies as being neurodiverse.

Personal life

After visiting the Bristol Radiotherapy Centre as a teenager, Rankin knew she wanted a career in research.[1] Since 2011, Rankin has identified as being neurodiverse, with characteristics of dyslexia and dyspraxia.[2]

Education

Rankin received first class honours for a BSc in pharmacology at King's College London in 1985.[3] Rankin continued at the same institution for her PhD, completing in 1989.[3]

Research

After her PhD, Rankin moved to the University of California, San Diego as a postdoctoral research fellow.[3] She joined Imperial as a postdoctoral researcher in 1992.[3]

As of 2018, Rankin is based in the Faculty of Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI), where she was appointed Professor in 2010.[3][4][5] Rankin and her team are trying to navigate the mesenchymal stem cells found in bone marrow to injured sites around the body, where they can promote regeneration in nearby tissue and dampen the immune system.[1][6] The regulated movement of stem cells from bone marrow to sites of tissue damage could treat broken bones or heart disease.[7]

She is the lead for biology and therapeutics at the Blast Injury Centre[8] at Imperial College London, where she studies heterotopic ossification. She is a leader of the London Stem Cell Network.[9] Rankin holds research grants from the Wellcome Trust, European Commission and British Legion.[1]

Public engagement

Rankin is the NHLI division lead for Outreach and engagement. She is the co-founder of The Curious Act, a science public engagement initiative who run creative science-based activities for the public.[10] In 2011, she collaborated with Gina Czarnecki, acting as the lead scientist in "Wasted".[11][12] In 2012 Czarnecki and Rankin created Palaces, a crystal resin sculpture embedded with milk teeth donated by children across the UK.[13][14][15]

Rankin and The Curious Act have hosted a number of science-themed pop-up shops.[16][17] The Heart and Lung Repair Shop, a two-week pop-up science shop in Hammersmith's Kings Mall, opened in July 2014.[18] The Heart and Lung Convenience Store opened in Hammersmith in 2015.[19]

In 2017 Rankin launched 2eMpowerUK, which runs STEM workshops for neurodiverse teenagers.[2]

Honours and awards

Her awards and honours include:

  • 2016 Imperial College London Collaboration Award for Societal Engagement[20]
  • 2011 Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award[21]
  • 2010 Imperial College London Rector's Award for Excellence in Pastoral Care[22]
  • 2019 Imperial College Julia Higgins Award for contribution to gender equality[23]

References

  1. ^ a b c "In your bones: Professor Sara Rankin". Wellcome Trust Blog. 7 October 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Sara Rankin - Scientists with disabilities | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Home - Professor Sara Rankin". www.imperial.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  4. ^ Imperial College London (10 September 2012), Body heal thyself Professor Sara Rankin, retrieved 16 December 2017
  5. ^ "Body heal thyself, A tale of stem cells". Imperial College London News and Events. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  6. ^ Sample, Ian (8 January 2009). "Stem cell therapy boosts body's ability to heal itself". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  7. ^ "Stem Cells: Science and Ethics". The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  8. ^ "Centre for Blast Injury Studies; Research groups; Imperial College London". www.imperial.ac.uk.
  9. ^ "London Stem Cell Network". The Francis Crisk Institute. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  10. ^ "Professor Sara Rankin and Ellen Dowell on Pop-up Science Shops | Imperial College London". www.imperial.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  11. ^ "Art | UK | Gina Czarnecki". Art | UK | Gina Czarnecki. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  12. ^ "Contributors to DREaM project events". LIS Research Coalition. 6 June 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  13. ^ "Art | UK | Gina Czarnecki". Art | UK | Gina Czarnecki. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  14. ^ "The thought-provoking 'tooth fairy palace'". BBC News. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  15. ^ "Palaces.org.uk | We need your pearly whites..." palaces.org.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  16. ^ Thorley, Jennifer (1 December 2015). "Lung health care—what does the future have in store?". The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. 3 (12): 927. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(15)00457-9. ISSN 2213-2600. PMID 26679023.
  17. ^ "The 13 best pop-ups happening in London this October". Time Out London. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  18. ^ "Heart and Lung Repair Shop". Imperial College London. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  19. ^ "The Heart and Lung Convenience Store". Imperial College London. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  20. ^ "Imperial celebrates its societal engagement stars". Imperial College London News. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  21. ^ "Outstanding researchers receive inaugural Wellcome Trust Investigator Awards | Wellcome". wellcome.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  22. ^ "Rector's Awards recognise exceptional teaching, pastoral care and student supervision". Imperial College London News. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  23. ^ "Julia Higgins Medal and Awards". Imperial College London. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
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