Research Interests
Open to PhD applications in the field of
- Systems medicine
- Computational biology
- Bioinformatics
- Complexity science
- Functional genomics
- Systems modelling
- Health data research
- Cancer research
- Precision oncology
Public outreach & key achievements
Awards
Students in Dr Overton's group have won prestigious awards including;
- The only FEBS fellowship (Europe) to attend CaSyM Systems Medicine summer school (2015)
- The Claire Jones prize for the best-performing female student in Informatics (2016)
- Best poster prize at National Barrett’s Symposium (2013)
Selected contributions to policy-making
- As chair of the Open Data and REF2021 working groups at the RSE Young Academy of Scotland I have led the writing of policy position statements, advice papers and consultation responses; submitted to the European Commission (2016, 2014) and at UK National Level (2011, 2013, 2017). This work has been mentioned directly in relevant policy documents.
- Invited interviewee, ESRC funded study ‘Open Science and Innovation in Contemporary Synthetic and Systems Biology’; speaker at associated workshop (Exeter), informing RCUK policy (2013).
- Organised debates with key stakeholders in Open Data (2014) and Open Access (2015).
Selected public engagement activities
- My group and I have participated in numerous institutional open days, science festivals and other public engagement events. For example I ran stall at the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology open day, with an interactive activity called ‘Computing Cures’ that I co-designed. ‘Computing Cures’ communicates the importance of data science and the processes involved in data analysis for cancer research.
- I have been an active STEM ambassador since 2008
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Research featured in international, national & local press; print, (e.g. Daily Express, Metro) and online (e.g. BBC, Daily Telegraph).
- Video about research interests
Research students
| PhD Title | Systems Medicine Approaches to Cancer Drug Resistance and Response, Towards New Clinical Tools |
| Country | UK |
| Years of study | 2018-2021 |
| PhD Title | Machine Learning For Functional Reconstruction and Analysis of Biochemical Interactions Controlling Colorectal Cancer Phenotypes |
| Country | Nigeria |
| Years of study | 2019-2022 |
| Phd Title | Machine Learning for Discovery of Patient Journey-Wide Phenotypes and Colorectal Cancer Stratification |
| Country | UK |
| Years of study | 2019-2023 |
Alumni: Where are they now
| PhD Title | Network Biology and Machine Learning Approaches to Metastasis and Treatment Response |
| Country | UK |
| Years of Study | 2010-2014 |
| Current position | Assistant Professor in Vanderbilt University (USA) |