Tackling multiple sclerosis (MS), a degenerative autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, afflicting more than 90,000 Canadians, is the research project for Sydney Yee, pursuing a DPhil at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses mainly on the study of astrocytes, non-nerve cells that connect the brain’s blood vessels to our nerve cells. Healthy astrocyte function is critical to brain health, while dysfunctional astrocytes can lead to harmful immune responses and cell death as occurs in neurogenerative disease such as MS. Sydney’s research will provide insight into how astrocytes contribute to MS disease which will identify targets for future MS disease treatment and therapies.
2020 was a difficult year due to Covid-19. Labs, vital to Sydney’s research project were closed for eight months. Now, labs are partially re-opened, but Sydney has nevertheless lost a valuable year of her research. Up to 2021 she has been supported by a three year Commonwealth Scholarship, one of only four awarded, which now unfortunately expires and cannot be renewed. She has completed two results chapters of her thesis and plans to complete the final results chapter in the Spring of 2022; then the thesis will be submitted.
The DPhil completed, she plans to return to Canada to undertake a medical degree with the aim of becoming a clinician-scientist in the field of MS.
Sydney is an outstanding young Canadian and passionate about making a difference in the world through her commitment to neuroscience. Her research has been recognised in poster presentations at academic conferences and is already being written up for publication in peer-reviewed journals.
Beyond her academic accomplishments she was elected President of Keble College Middle Common Room, a forum for all college graduate students at Oxford’s Keble College. She is sportive and rows for her college 1st eight. She was nominated by the Canadian Commonwealth Scholar and Fellow Alumni Association to carry the Canadian flag at the 2020 Commonwealth ceremony at Westminster Abbey, unfortunately cancelled due to Covid-19.
Undaunted by today’s restrictions, Sydney is a Canadian scholar who intends to tackle world problems through her humanity, idealism and determination.
