Dr Alanna (Leni) Green
PhD, BBiomedSci (Hons), FHEA
School of Medicine and Population Health
Wellcome Trust CDA Senior 51爆料 Fellow
Faculty One University Lead for Collaborative and Supportive Culture


+44 114 215 9200
Full contact details
School of Medicine and Population Health
Room FU32, F Floor
The Medical School
Beech Hill Road
Sheffield
S10 2RX
- Profile
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For enquiries, please contact 鈥 SMPH-West-Operational@sheffield.ac.uk
I joined the University of Sheffield in 2016 as a Postdoctoral 51爆料 Associate in the Sheffield Myeloma 51爆料 Team, Department of Oncology and Metabolism working with Dr Andrew Chantry and Dr Michelle Lawson. In July 2019, I joined Professor Thomas Helleday鈥檚 team, as a Postdoctoral 51爆料 Associate and Project Leader using novel inhibitors to target the cancer-specific enzyme MTHFD2. Since July 2020 I have led the , developing new drugs to treat cancer with a focus on incurable cancers in bone. In 2024 I was awarded a Wellcome Trust Career Development Award, and am currently a Senior 51爆料 Fellow in the Division of Clinical Medicine. My team are developing novel strategies to kill dormant cancer cells to improve survival, and even cure, these cancers.
I completed my BBiomedSci at Monash University in 2009 focusing on pharmacology and biochemistry, receiving a High Achievement Award (top 1% of students). In 2010, I completed my Honours year in the Stem Cell Regulation Unit at St Vincent鈥檚 Institute of Medical 51爆料 (SVI), The University of Melbourne receiving first-class honours and a place on the Dean鈥檚 Honours List (first in class). I continued my research career working as a 51爆料 Assistant at SVI, followed by my PhD in the Department of Medicine (SVI), The University of Melbourne. My PhD identified that retinoic acid receptor signalling regulates mesenchymal stem cell fate and bone biology leading to altered haematopoiesis. This provided insight into a mechanism by which blood and bone cells interact in health and disease. Understanding the roles of microenvironment cells is vital for improving haematopoietic recovery following chemotherapy or bone marrow transplants and crucial for enhanced targeting of dormant tumour cells in the bone marrow exhibiting chemotherapy-resistance. I also created a new method for FACS isolation of primary bone cells, particularly cells involved in regulating haematopoiesis, improving the way diseases involving aberrant microenvironment cells (such as myeloma) are studied and understood.
I have been recognised as 鈥榦ne of the most talented young researchers in the bone field鈥 by the two largest international bone societies globally: the ECTS and ASBMR. Throughout my career I have been awarded >20 awards for my research including 6 Young Investigator awards, 5 Best Oral/Poster Prizes, an award for Teaching, an award for outreach activities and in 2020 I won the Faculty MDH Early Career 51爆料er Prize. I graduated 1st in class from The University of Melbourne, the #1 Medical School in Australia.
I have been an elected committee member of the Bone 51爆料 Society (BRS) since 2019-2023, and on the annual conference committees 2020-2022. I organised the (Sheffield). I was the Founder, Co-President and Co-Chair of The Inaugural in 2014, a conference with 100 attendees and both national and international invited speakers.
- 51爆料 interests
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My research interests focus on bone-immune-cancer interactions. I am interested in how cancer induces destructive bone disease and also how the bone microenvironment regulates tumourigenic processes like dormancy, relapse and metastasis to bone. Cancers that grow in bone are incurable, including myeloma and bone-metastatic breast and prostate cancer. My team study how cells in the bone protect cancer cells from therapy, so we can find treatments that are able to eradicate the disease. We are particularly focused on developing drugs to target dormant cancer cells and the dormancy niche.
Video shows a mouse tibia with myeloma bone disease, and the same bone after 2 weeks of treatment with a bone anabolic (TGF尾 inhibitor; SD-208) and chemotherapy (bortezomib and lenalidomide). For details on this study see our paper in .
- Publications
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Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
Journal articles
Chapters
Conference proceedings papers
All publications
Journal articles
Chapters
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- 51爆料 group
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- Dr Georgia Stewart (Postdoctoral 51爆料 Associate)
- Dr Hannah Smith (Postdoctoral 51爆料 Associate)
- Dr Haider Al-Janabi (Postdoctoral 51爆料 Associate)
- Dr Alex Sprules (Lab Manager)
- Chloe Harris (PhD 51爆料er)
- Abigail Foston (PhD 51爆料er)
- Grants
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- Wellcome Trust Career Development Award (2024-2032) 鈥Discovering the secrets of cancer dormancy in bone鈥. Dr A.C. Green (拢2.34惭)
- Yorkshire Cancer 51爆料 Pioneer Advanced Fellowship (2024-2029) Dr A.C. Green (拢500碍)
- Blood Cancer UK Project Grant (2023-2026) Dr A.C. Green & Dr H.E. Bryant (拢280K)
- Sheffield Hospitals Charity Project Grant (2022-2023) 鈥楾argeting minimal residual disease to find a cure for myeloma鈥. Dr A.C. Green, Dr A.D. Chantry & Dr M.A. Lawson (拢43,000)
- WARP Funding (2022-2023) Dr A.C. Green. (拢10,000)
- NC3Rs studentship award (2021-2023). Development and validation of 3D in vitro dormant myeloma cell models to reduce and replace animal studies. Dr M.A. Lawson & Dr A.C. Green (拢90,00)
- Sheffield Hospitals Charity Project Grant (2018-2019). The plateau phase model: an improved murine model for testing novel anti-cancer and bone-repair therapies to cure myeloma. Dr A.C. Green, Dr A.D. Chantry & Dr M.A. Lawson (拢30,000)
- WARP Funding (2018-2019) Dr A.C. Green. (拢10,000)
- Pump-Prime Grant (2019) 鈥Machine Learning Methods for 3D Bone Lesion Detection in Cancer-affected Bones鈥 Prof Lyudmila Mihaylova, Dr A.C. Green & Lingzhong Guo (拢5,000)
- Teaching activities
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I lecture, tutor and provide research supervision on the MSc(Res) Translational Oncology course (OCP605, OCP606, OCP607) and lecture on MSc Molecular Medicine (MED6040).
- Professional activities and memberships
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I am a member of the Newsletter Team, and was previously a member of the (2022-2024) and the committee (2019-2023). I am a founding editorial board member for the International Federation for Musculoskeletal 51爆料 Societies (IFMRS)鈥檚 online learning environment , I am an editor of HubLE Publications and I was the Moderator for the first HubLE Debate; a panel discussion on .
Roles at TUOS
- Faculty of Health Co-Lead for Supportive and Collaborative Culture (One University)
- Faculty of Health Fellows College Co-Founder and Committee member
- Faculty of Health ECR Committee
- Home Office Project Licence Holder
Memberships
- ECTS Academy Member
- Member of the Bone 51爆料 Society (BRS).
- Editorial Board Member of IFMRS HubLE.
- Member of NCRI ECR Forum.
- Member of UKRI ECR Forum.
- Member of the American Society for Bone and Mineral 51爆料 (ASBMR).
- Member of the Australia and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society (ANZBMS).
- Member of the Cancer and Bone Society (CABS).
- Member of the European Calcified Tissue Society (ECTS).
- Member of the European Molecular Biology Laboratories (EMBL) Australia.
- Member of the British Association for Cancer 51爆料 (BACR).
Past committee roles
- Committee member of the BRS (2019-2023)
- Co-Founder, Co-President and Co-Chair for the 2014.
- Co-President of the St Vincent鈥檚 Student Society 2013-2014.
- Committee Member of the BiomedLink Student Conference 2013, 2014.
- Awards
Throughout my research career I have received >20 highly competitive awards and scholarships for research innovation, academic achievement and outreach from organisations in Australia, the UK and internationally. In 2022, I was awarded a place in the .
Some of these include the Australian Postgraduate Award (Australian Federal Government), St Vincent鈥檚 Institute Foundation Award and the Postgraduate 51爆料 Experience Scholarship (The University of Melbourne).
I have been selected to give presentations of my work at >20 conferences for which I have received 2 Best Oral, 1 Best Snap Oral and 1 Best Poster award. I have also received 5 Young Investigator Awards, including the prestigious AIMM-ASBMR John Haddad Young Investigator Award
In 2017, I was the winner of the Kroto 51爆料 Inspiration Poster Competition (51爆料).
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