Prof. Pierre Schembri Wismayer

Prof. Pierre Schembri Wismayer

Prof. Pierre Schembri Wismayer

 M.D.,Ph.D.(Glas.)

Associate Professor

Room 319
Biomedical Sciences Building
University of Malta
Msida
  +356 2340 2797
Before joining the University of Malta's Dept. of Anatomy, Prof Schembri-Wismayer worked in St Luke's teaching hospital in Accident and Emergency medicine as well as in the National Blood Transfusion centre, amongst others. He also worked Atheneum biotechnology where he was involved in isolating and freezing cells from the last pure Maltese ox.

He read for his undergraduate degree at the University of Malta and after receiving his warrant, did some voluntary medical work in Kenya and then pursued his PhD in molecular Oncology at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in affiliation with Glasgow University.

Prof Schembri-Wismayer is a great believer in science education and won a contract with the EU's FP6 to produce an international television series, later called X-lab, broadcast in Malta and Cyprus to encourage youngsters to take part up science as a career. Including this, Prof Schembri-Wismayer has been involved in bringing in more than 1 million worth of grants funding to the University.

Prof Schembri-Wismayer was for a long time the nation EU contact organisation (MCST) expert in relation to the Life sciences. He regularly takes part in Teen Science cafe to encourage children to take up science, talks on TV and Radio shows about research and contributes to other science communication fora.

His research develops novel methods of immunotherapy and differentiation as cancer therapeutics. He is also developing new methods of producing pluripotent stem cells. He has a strong interest in anatomical biomechanics, where he is developing a novel hip joint, which is close to being patented. He supervises and has supervised several Ph.D's and Masters students. He is regular post-graduate thesis examiner. He teaches undergraduate students in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and the Faculty of Health sciences in Gross Anatomy and Cell Biology. He also contributes to a number of post-graduate medical and scientific courses.

He regularly collaborates in research with local industry, particularly, AgriBiotech Ltd and is presently writing a number of Local and European research grant proposals. He also sits of 3 different European COST actions
  • Leukaemia Differentiation Therapy
  • Cancer Immunotherapy
  • Pluripotency
  • Biomechanics
  • Natural product bioactivity analysis
  • Scientific Popularisation

POLLACCO, D.A., CALIGARI CONTI, M., FARRUGIA, L., SCHEMBRI WISMAYER, P., FARINA, L. and SAMMUT, C.V., 2019. Dielectric properties of muscle and tissue-mimicking solutions for microwave medical imaging applications. Physics in Medicine and Biology, .

CALIGARI CONTI, M., AQUILINA, D., PATERNOSTER, C., VELLA, D., SINAGRA, E., MANTOVANI, D., CASSAR, G., SCHEMBRI WISMAYER, P. and BUHAGIAR, J., 2018. Influence of cold rolling on in vitro cytotoxicity and electrochemical behaviour of an Fe-Mn-C biodegradable alloy in physiological solutions. Heliyon, 4(11), pp. e00926.

CAMENZULI, C., SCHEMBRI WISMAYER, P. and CALLEJA AGIUS, J., 2018. Transoral Endoscopic Thyroidectomy: A Systematic Review of the Practice So Far. JSLS : Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, 22(3), pp. 10.4293/JSLS.2018.00026.

CUSCHIERI, S., SCHEMBRI-WISMAYER, P. and GRECH, V., 2018. WASP (Write a Scientific Paper): Writing a Research Grant - 2, Drafting the Proposal. Early human development, 127, pp. 109-111.

FARRUGIA, C., LUNG, C.Y.K., SCHEMBRI WISMAYER, P., ARIAS-MOLIZ, M.T. and CAMILLERI, J., 2018. The Relationship of Surface Characteristics and Antimicrobial Performance of Pulp Capping Materials. Journal of endodontics, 44(7), pp. 1115-1120.

SCHEMBRI-WISMAYER, P., CUSCHIERI, S. and GRECH, V., 2018. WASP (Write a Scientific Paper): Writing a Research Grant - 1, Applying for Funding. Early human development, 127, pp. 106-108.

KEBUDI BENEZRA, M., SCHEMBRI WISMAYER, P. and CAMILLERI, J., 2017. Influence of environment on testing of hydraulic sealers. Scientific reports, 7(1), pp. 17927-017-17280-7.

STONER, R., CAMILLERI, V., CALLEJA-AGIUS, J. and SCHEMBRI-WISMAYER, P., 2017. The cytokine-hormone axis - the link between premenstrual syndrome and postpartum depression. Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology, 33(8), pp. 588-592.

FARRUGIA, L., WISMAYER, P.S., MANGION, L.Z. and SAMMUT, C.V., 2016. Accurate in vivo dielectric properties of liver from 500 MHz to 40 GHz and their correlation to ex vivo measurements. Electromagnetic biology and medicine, 35(4), pp. 365-373.

MARESCA, G. and WISMAYER, P.S., 2016. DNA methylation and Cancer: Identifying and targeting epigenetic modifications may be the future of cancer therapy? The Gulf journal of oncology, 1(21), pp. 77-83.

STOICA, S., MAGOULAS, G.E., ANTONIOU, A.I., SULEIMAN, S., CASSAR, A., GATT, L., PAPAIOANNOU, D., ATHANASSOPOULOS, C.M. and SCHEMBRI-WISMAYER, P., 2016. Synthesis of minoxidil conjugates and their evaluation as HL-60 differentiation agents. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters, 26(4), pp. 1145-1150.

TODOROVIC, T.R., VUKASINOVIC, J., PORTALONE, G., SULEIMAN, S., GLIGORIJEVIC, N., BJELOGRLIC, S., JOVANOVIC, K., RADULOVIC, S., ANDELKOVIC, K., CASSAR, A., FILIPOVIC, N.R. and SCHEMBRI-WISMAYER, P., 2016. (Chalcogen)semicarbazones and their cobalt complexes differentiate HL-60 myeloid leukaemia cells and are cytotoxic towards tumor cell lines. MedChemComm, 8(1), pp. 103-111.

CASHA, A.R., MANCHE, A., GATT, R., DUCA, E., GAUCI, M., SCHEMBRI-WISMAYER, P., CAMILLERI-PODESTA, M.T. and GRIMA, J.N., 2014. Mechanism of sternotomy dehiscence. Interactive cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, 19(4), pp. 617-621.

CASHA, A.R., MANCHE, A., GATT, R., WOLAK, W., DUDEK, K., GAUCI, M., SCHEMBRI-WISMAYER, P., CAMILLERI-PODESTA, M.T. and GRIMA, J.N., 2014. Is there a biomechanical cause for spontaneous pneumothorax? European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery, 45(6), pp. 1011-1016.

CONTI, M.C., KARL, A., WISMAYER, P.S. and BUHAGIAR, J., 2014. Biocompatibility and characterization of a Kolsterised((R)) medical grade cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloy. Biomatter, 4, pp. e27713.

REIFF, R.E., ALI, B.R., BARON, B., YU, T.W., BEN-SALEM, S., COULTER, M.E., SCHUBERT, C.R., HILL, R.S., AKAWI, N.A., AL-YOUNES, B., KAYA, N., EVRONY, G.D., AL-SAFFAR, M., FELIE, J.M., PARTLOW, J.N., SUNU, C.M., SCHEMBRI-WISMAYER, P., ALKURAYA, F.S., MEYER, B.F., WALSH, C.A., AL-GAZALI, L. and MOCHIDA, G.H., 2014. METTL23, a transcriptional partner of GABPA, is essential for human cognition. Human molecular genetics, 23(13), pp. 3456-3466.

CALLEJA-AGIUS, J., SCHEMBRI-WISMAYER, P., CALLEJA, N., BRINCAT, M. and SPITERI, D., 2011. Obstetric outcome and cytokine levels in threatened miscarriage. Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology, 27(2), pp. 121-127.

RODERICK MALLIA, JEAN-PAUL MANGION, CHRISTIAN CAMENZULI, ANNALISSE CASSAR, PAUL CACCIOTTOLO, JOHN CAUCHI, JOSEPH BORG, SARFRAZ ALI, PIERRE SCHEMBRI-WISMAYER, 2011. HPV positivity varies with technique and primer set, in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded benign and malignant breast tissue from Malta. American Journal of Molecular Biology, 1(3), pp. 183-188.

DARMANIN, S., WISMAYER, P.S., CAMILLERI PODESTA, M.T., MICALLEF, M.J. and BUHAGIAR, J.A., 2009. An extract from Ricinus communis L. leaves possesses cytotoxic properties and induces apoptosis in SK-MEL-28 human melanoma cells. Natural product research, 23(6), pp. 561-571.

SCHEMBRI-WISMAYER, P. and BIRNIE, G.D., 2003. An improved growth hormone reporter gene shows a different pattern of transactivation by promoter fragments. Gene, 323, pp. 173-180.

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