Selina Wray is a British neuroscientist who is a professor of Molecular Neuroscience and an Alzheimer’s Research UK Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Neurodegenerative Disease at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. She also serves as Deputy Director for Partnerships and Communications. Her work focuses on using patient‑derived stem cells to model dementia and accelerate the development of new treatments. In 2014, she was named Red Magazine’s Woman of the Year.
Early life and education
Wray was born in Barnsley. She lived in social housing, and attended Longcar and Holgate School before attending Barnsley College. She completed her undergraduate degree in biochemistry and biological chemistry at the University of Nottingham.[citation needed] During her undergraduate studies, she gained her first experience working in a research laboratory, which led her to pursue a career in experimental science. She undertook doctoral training in the laboratory of Diane Hanger at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London. During her doctoral research she became increasingly aware of the medical and societal importance of dementia research and the relative lack of funding in the field. This experience shaped her decision to remain in dementia research and to focus on improving experimental models of neurodegenerative disease.
Wray established her own research laboratory at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology.[when?] Wray’s research uses cells derived from dementia patients to create laboratory models that replicate key features of the disease. These stem‑cell‑based models are used to investigate the mechanisms that cause brain cells to degenerate in dementia and to identify ways of slowing or preventing this damage.
A central aim of her work is to improve the pre‑clinical testing of potential treatments. By developing more accurate and reliable laboratory models, her research seeks to increase the likelihood that drugs progressing to clinical trials will be effective. Wray uses induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology to model neurodegenerative disease. She works alongside clinicians to obtain biological samples from individuals with rare genetic forms of dementia. Using these models, her research aims to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. She was made a professor in 2020.
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