Dr Tanya Klymenko PhD, FHEA, FIBMS

I was appointed to a lecturing post at Sheffield Hallam University in 2017 after having completed a number of postdoctoral research projects at University of Manchester, University of Glasgow and Queen Mary University of London.

I hold a PhD jointly awarded by EMBL and Heidelberg University for a project focused on epigenetic regulation of HOX genes.

I teach a range of subjects in the Department of Biosciences and Chemistry including core modules in first and second year curriculum on all our bio-strand courses. I am leading on Genes to Proteins, Biochemistry in Action module -- an integral part of the BSc Hons Biomedical Sciences course. 

My current research is focused on understanding how dynamical changes in cell nucleus can be exploited to improve treatment of cancer patients.

In one of my recent projects I worked with my collaborators in Ulm, Cologne and London to identify a novel marker in Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) prognosis. CLL is the type of blood cancer that mainly affects elderly patients. It is the most common leukaemia diagnosis in the western world and is a condition that in most cases cannot be cured.

Therefore, there is a clear need for better understanding of this disease so that we can develop better therapies. Also, scientists and clinicians know that CLL patients respond differently to available treatments so any information on how to personalise treatment regimens is of great value.

The aim of my current research programme is to test whether our discovery can be exploited to understand differences in responses to the most novel drugs used in the treatment of CLL.

Due to my ongoing scientific collaborations I also hold a title of Visiting Lecturer at the Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London.

Journal articles

Jerome, H., Taylor, C., Sreenu, V.B., Klymenko, T., Filipe, A.D.S., Jackson, C., ... Thomson, E.C. (2019). Metagenomic next-generation sequencing aids the diagnosis of viral infections in febrile returning travellers. Journal of Infection. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2019.08.003

Klymenko, T., Bloehdorn, J., Bahlo, J., Robrecht, S., Akylzhanova, G., Cox, K., ... Braun, A. (2018). Lamin B1 regulates somatic mutations and progression of B-cell malignancies. Leukemia, 32 (2), 364-375. http://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2017.255

Klymenko, T., Gu, Q., Herbert, I., Stevenson, A., Iliev, V., Watkins, G., ... Graham, S.V. (2017). RNASeq analysis of differentiated keratinocytes reveals a massive response to late events during human papillomavirus type 16 infection, including loss of epithelial barrier function. Journal of Virology, JVI.01001-17. http://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01001-17

Klymenko, T., Hernandez-Lopez, H., MacDonald, A.I., Bodily, J.M., Graham, S.V., & Beemon, K.L. (2016). Human papillomavirus E2 regulates SRSF3 (SRp20) to promote capsid protein expression in infected differentiated keratinocytes. Journal of Virology, 90 (10), 5047-5058. http://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.03073-15

Leggewie, M., Sreenu, V.B., Abdelrahman, T., M. Leitch, E.C., Wilkie, G.S., Klymenko, T., ... Thomson, E.C. (2013). Natural NS3 resistance polymorphisms occur frequently prior to treatment in HIV-positive patients with acute hepatitis C. AIDS, 27 (15), 2485-2488. http://doi.org/10.1097/qad.0b013e328363b1f9

• MSc projects in Haemato-oncology .
• PhD projects on role of the nuclear lamina proteins in cell nucleus dynamics in blood cancer models.