Dr. Alice Pollard

Imperial College London

Dr Alice Pollard is a BBRSC Discovery Fellow working at the Institute of Clinical Sciences, Imperial College London. After conducting her PhD in the lab of Professor David Carling, she took a post-doctoral position at AstraZeneca, based in the Carling lab to continue her work on AMPK in adipose stem cell metabolism. As a fellow, her work focuses on the role of metabolism in adipose stem cell fate and function. Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) are abundant in adult adipose tissue, and are recruited to form new adipocytes when required for depot expansion. Loss of stem cell function leads to a reduction in storage capacity, causing lipids to be stored peripherally, where they may become toxic. In addition, incomplete or incorrect differentiation can lead to a fibrotic phenotype that exacerbates an already inflammatory environment. Dr Pollard works to identify the key metabolic alterations that occur during ADSC commitment to different lineages, how these are altered in disease states, and how these pathways may be targeted in vivo, using immortalised human ADSCs and bariatric surgery patient-derived cell cultures.

Aside from her lab work, Dr Pollard is an advocate of healthy associations between patients and food, having worked in the fitness industry for 10 years. Her vision includes the involvement of patients with their adipose stem cell profiles, monitoring health benefits through sampling of ADSCs over time. She looks to promote diversity and inclusion in all studies, in the hope that a database may be established for the recruitment of volunteers worldwide.