Rachel Berkson

Personal details

• Nationality: British
  
• Date of birth: 27 December 1978
  
• Marital status: Single
  

Current position (October 2009 – present)

• Lecturer in Bioscience
• Keele University School of Medicine, Staffordshire, UK
• Teaching scientific basis of medicine to undergraduates in the medical school
• Researcher at Keele University Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine
• Research topic: Nucleoli, ribosome biogenesis and cancer

Previous position (May 2006 – June 2009)

• Post-doctoral researcher
• School of Life Sciences, Södertörn University, Mechanisms of Eukaryotic Gene Regulation group, Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Sweden
• Research topic: c-Myc, nucleoli and cancer
• Supervisor: Professor Anthony Wright

Publications

• Chiue, Berkson & Wright (2009): c-Myc induces changes in higher order rDNA structure on stimulation of quiescent cells Oncogene 28 1833–1842
• Berkson, Hollick et al (2005): Pilot screening programme for small molecule activators of p53 International Journal of Cancer 115 701–710
• Menéndez, Higgins et al (2003): Nuclear export inhibitor leptomycin B induces the appearance of novel forms of human Mdm2 protein British Journal of Cancer 88 636–643

Career history and achievements

2006 – 2009 Post-doctoral position
Södertörn University and Karolinska Institute, Sweden
Supervisor: Professor Anthony Wright

1. November 2008: CASCADE European network of excellence course on Communicating research to the public and media
2. October 2008: Presented work at Swedish Epigenetics Network meeting
3. 2008: Post-doctoral funding from Cancerfonden extended for a third year
4. Spring semester 2008, 2009: Co-leader of undergraduate course Molecular Biology of the Genome, giving lectures, running "dry labs" problem-based learning sessions, and helping to set exam papers for the module
5. 2008: took part in a pilot study of small molecules targetting Myc, in collaboration with Actar drug discovery enterprise
6. August 2007: Karolinska Institute Workshop in Photomicrography
7. Techniques including mammalian cell culture, immunofluorescence, chromatin immunoprecipitation, molecular biology, chromatin conformation capture as well as standard biochemical techniques
8. Acted as informal advisor to PhD students in the lab
9. Organized group meetings and communication between group members
10. 2006: Two year guest researcher position funded by Cancerfonden (Swedish Cancer Society)

2001 – 2005 PhD studies
University of Dundee, Scotland, UK
Supervisors: Professor Sir David Lane, Dr Sonia Laín

1. June 2005: Awarded degree of PhD in Surgery & Molecular Oncology, with a thesis on Discovering novel, non-genotoxic activators of p53
2. 2003 – 2004 Taught adult education classes on World Religion at the University of Dundee
3. 2002, 2003 Presented work at scientific conferences (Oxford, UK; Lille, France)
4. 2002 Supervised undergraduate medical student lab project
5. 2001 Cancer Research UK PhD studentship

1997 – 2001 Merton College, University of Oxford

1. 2001 MBioch (First Class) – University of Oxford
2. 2001 Gibbs book prize for outstanding paper in Part II MBioch – University of Oxford
3. 2000 Wilder Penfield Prize for undergraduate achievement in science and medicine – Merton College, Oxford
4. 1999 Participated in undergraduate science programme at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
   • 2 months work shadowing under the supervision of Professor Moshe Oren and Dr Tami Juven-Gershon
5. 1999 Postmastership (full scholarship) – Merton College, Oxford

1987 – 1997: Perse School for Girls, Cambridge

1. 1997 Oxford and Cambridge Examinations and Assessment Council prize for A Level French
2. 1997 5 A Levels at Grade A

Other work experience

• 2009 – present Volunteer with Dreamwidth blogging site, writing code to fix bugs, writing site documentation, and providing technical support
• 2006 Filing clerk at Board of Graduate Studies, University of Cambridge
• 2003 – 2006 Provided voluntary technical support for LiveJournal blogging site / Six Apart, including a training and supervisory rôle
• 2001 Data entry clerk at Cambridgeshire County Council Social Services Department

Interests and activities

Languages

• French (fluent)
• Swedish (proficient)
• Modern Hebrew (basic)
• German (basic)

Computers and IT

• Excellent computer skills
• Advanced user of word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software
• Familiarity with image manipulation software, particularly Adobe Photoshop, both professionally for presentation of experimental data and personally for hobby photography
• Typing 70 wpm
• Familiarity with bioinformatic and genomic web tools
• Active and advanced user of internet technologies
• Have maintained a blog for 6 years and participate actively in online communities
• Competent with HTML and CSS, maintain several personal web pages
• Some experience of programming eg in Perl

Summer 2009 Student at Drisha institute for Jewish education, New York

• Studying traditional Jewish texts in Hebrew and English

2007 – 2009 Board member, Stockholm Progressive Judaism

• Involved in establishing a Progressive community working withing the Stockholm Jewish Community
• Leading services and discussion groups, including acting as a visiting lay leader for the Oslo and Copenhagen communities.
• Taught a series of ten adult education seminars on A Progressive perspective on the Jewish prayer book
• Coached five teenagers for bar mitzvah

2001 – 2005 Religious Affairs Officer, Dundee Hebrew Congregation

• Organizing regular synagogue events
• Committee work managing affairs of a small, under–resourced community
• Community leadership including taking services
• Relations with wider community

2001 – 2004 Treasurer, Dundee Inter Faith Association

• Member of steering committee which established a new inter faith initiative in Dundee
• Point of contact for local groups needing information about religious groups in Dundee; provided advice to public organizations about religious and ethnic diversity
• Organized various inter faith events; set up monthly dialogue meetings
• Managed society accounts and presented them for formal audit

2002 – 2004 Jewish representative for Scottish Inter Faith Council Youth section

• 2003 Part of inter faith delegation to Isle of Tiree
• 2003 Helped organize and spoke as a panellist at First Scottish Inter Faith Youth Conference

2001 – 2003 Voluntary teaching at synagogue Sunday School