Biochemistry

James Hawley, Principal Clinical Scientist

James is a Principal Clinical Scientist at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and a MRC Clinical Research Fellow. He has over 10-years’ experience working in clinical mass spectrometry and has an interest in the accurate measurement of steroid hormones. He is currently undertaking a part-time PhD at Imperial College, London looking at using steroid hormone metabolomics to improve the diagnosis of adrenal cancer.

David Marshall, Principal Clinical Scientist

Dave is a Principal Clinical Scientist working within the Biochemistry department at Wythenshawe Hospital. He has an interest in LC-MS/MS and how alternative sampling such as saliva and capillary samples can improve patient access to healthcare. He is currently undertaking the Higher Specialist Scientific Training (HSST) program in conjunction with the University of Manchester.

Malcolm McTaggart, Senior Clinical Scientist

Malcolm (PhD FRCPath) has worked in Clinical Biochemistry for the NHS since 2008. As well as being involved in the routine clinical biochemistry service, he previously undertook research work in the fields of kidney disease and plasma cell dyscrasias. From afar, he admired the LC-MS/MS research and development work in Biochemistry at Wythenshawe Hospital and successfully applied for a Senior Clinical Scientist role here in 2018. Since then, his research work has been centred around LC-MS/MS methods for salivary androgens and serum methotrexate; these methods are not currently in routine use but hopefully will be in the future.  He is also heavily involved in the routine LC-MS/MS work in Biochemistry at Wythenshawe Hospital which receives a large amount of referral work from a wide variety of locations around the UK and Ireland.

Jonny Atkins, Senior Clinical Scientist

Jonny (MSc) undertook the NHS Scientific Training Programme in biochemistry at Wythenshawe in 2020 and secured a Senior Clinical Scientist post here upon completion in 2023. In addition to involvement in the routine clinical biochemistry service, Jonny has undertaken research work throughout this time. Notable projects include development of an LC-MS/MS method to measure 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one and assessment of routine cortisol assay performance relative to LC-MS/MS during the overnight dexamethasone suppression test.

Megan Dolan, Trainee Clinical Scientist

Megan is a trainee clinical scientist based in the clinical biochemistry department at Wythenshawe Hospital. Throughout her time in the department, she has become involved in numerous LC-MS/MS research and method development projects. Her current projects include updating the routinely used salivary cortisol and cortisone assay and developing a novel salivary fludrocortisone assay.

Alice Stephenson, Trainee Healthcare Scientist

Alice is a trainee healthcare scientist in the second year of the scientist training program (STP). Alice has a master’s in Clinical Biochemistry from the University of Manchester and has worked in clinical biochemistry laboratories for the last 4 years. Alice is currently developing a method for the measurement of aldosterone and its metabolites by LC-MS/MS, as an alternative method for the diagnosis of primary aldosteronism.