Helen Petersen, a Walport Academic Clinical Fellow in the Department of Oral & Dental Science, has been awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowship (RTF) worth £132,000 to fund her PhD studies. She is one of the first Academic Clinical Fellows to receive such an award.

Helen, a Bristol dental graduate, will be researching the structure and function of a newly discovered protein that is present on the surface of bacteria that live in the mouth. The protein interacts with and activates blood platelets, leading to thrombus formation (blood clot). This protein molecule may be important in initiating infectious cardiovascular disease.

Helen's research fits into the oral microbiology research programme, led by Professor Howard Jenkinson, and funded by research grants from the National Institutes of Health USA, the Wellcome Trust and other research charities.