College Research Associates
Dr Celia Castillo-Blas
College Research Associate
Natural Sciences (Physical)
Chemistry
Dr Celia Castillo-Blas completed her PhD in Chemistry in 2019 supervised by Dr Felipe Gándara and Prof Ángeles Monge on the design of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with metal-cation arrangement control in secondary building units in the Institute of Materials Science of Madrid (CSIC). After that, she has worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid under the supervision of Dr Ana Platero-Prats, where her research was focused on development of defective Zr-MOFs for the capture and degradation of toxic chemicals in water.
Celia moved to the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge in November 2020 as a Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Research Associate. Her current research is conducted under the supervision of Dr Thomas D. Bennett and focuses on the synthesis and characterization of MOF crystal-glass composites using advanced synchrotron techniques.
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College Research Associate
Natural Sciences (Physical)
Chemistry
Dr Celia Castillo-Blas completed her PhD in Chemistry in 2019 supervised by Dr Felipe Gándara and Prof Ángeles Monge on the design of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with metal-cation arrangement control in secondary building units in the Institute of Materials Science of Madrid (CSIC). After that, she has worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid under the supervision of Dr Ana Platero-Prats, where her research was focused on development of defective Zr-MOFs for the capture and degradation of toxic chemicals in water.
Celia moved to the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge in November 2020 as a Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Research Associate. Her current research is conducted under the supervision of Dr Thomas D. Bennett and focuses on the synthesis and characterization of MOF crystal-glass composites using advanced synchrotron techniques.
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Dr Alice Cezanne
College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Molecular Biology
Dr Alice Cezanne started her scientific career with a BSc. Hons. in Medical Sciences at the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Biochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany. During her PhD she developed a passion for how membrane properties shape and regulate cellular processes. Having always been fascinated by astrobiology and the ability of living systems to survive a wide range of environments, she became interested in how cells can maintain a functional and dynamic membrane under extreme conditions.
As a post-doctoral researcher at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Alice investigates how lipid membranes are physically and chemically remodelled during cell division in extremophile archaea. Despite dramatic differences in membrane lipids, cell division in some archaea is driven by homologues of the ESCRT-III complex, just as it is in many eukaryotes. Through investigation of how a conserved protein machinery can act on different membrane architectures, and how the membrane itself contributes to cytokinesis and abscission, Alice hopes to gain an understanding of principles that are fundamental to cell division as well as shed some light on the evolution of the comparatively more complex division machinery in eukaryotes.
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College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Molecular Biology
Dr Alice Cezanne started her scientific career with a BSc. Hons. in Medical Sciences at the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Biochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany. During her PhD she developed a passion for how membrane properties shape and regulate cellular processes. Having always been fascinated by astrobiology and the ability of living systems to survive a wide range of environments, she became interested in how cells can maintain a functional and dynamic membrane under extreme conditions.
As a post-doctoral researcher at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Alice investigates how lipid membranes are physically and chemically remodelled during cell division in extremophile archaea. Despite dramatic differences in membrane lipids, cell division in some archaea is driven by homologues of the ESCRT-III complex, just as it is in many eukaryotes. Through investigation of how a conserved protein machinery can act on different membrane architectures, and how the membrane itself contributes to cytokinesis and abscission, Alice hopes to gain an understanding of principles that are fundamental to cell division as well as shed some light on the evolution of the comparatively more complex division machinery in eukaryotes.
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Dr Alex Clarke
College Research Associate
Psychological and Behavioural Sciences (PBS)
How do we understand what we see? Our understanding of what we see is shaped by our environment. When we see an object, we are already in a complex and rich environment and this leads to expectations about the things we are likely to see. My research tests how the environment changes the dynamics of visual and semantic activity in the brain, using a multimodal brain imaging framework based on fMRI, MEG, EEG and mobile EEG, with emerging methodologies including augmented reality, computational modelling, multivariate analyses, neural oscillations and brain connectivity.
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College Research Associate
Psychological and Behavioural Sciences (PBS)
How do we understand what we see? Our understanding of what we see is shaped by our environment. When we see an object, we are already in a complex and rich environment and this leads to expectations about the things we are likely to see. My research tests how the environment changes the dynamics of visual and semantic activity in the brain, using a multimodal brain imaging framework based on fMRI, MEG, EEG and mobile EEG, with emerging methodologies including augmented reality, computational modelling, multivariate analyses, neural oscillations and brain connectivity.
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Dr Alexandra Dallaire
College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Alexandra’s main research focus is on epigenetic mechanisms orchestrating gene expression. She is interested in how small non-coding RNAs work in complex relationships occurring in nature. Most living organisms exist in assemblages in which individuals and species interact. Sometimes, two or more species live purposefully in direct contact with each other and engage in relationships that are mutually beneficial; this is called symbiosis. The most widespread symbiosis on Earth occurs between species of fungi that associate with plant roots, forming relationships called mycorrhizae. She uses these symbiotic fungi to understand how small RNAs can program symbiosis.
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College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Alexandra’s main research focus is on epigenetic mechanisms orchestrating gene expression. She is interested in how small non-coding RNAs work in complex relationships occurring in nature. Most living organisms exist in assemblages in which individuals and species interact. Sometimes, two or more species live purposefully in direct contact with each other and engage in relationships that are mutually beneficial; this is called symbiosis. The most widespread symbiosis on Earth occurs between species of fungi that associate with plant roots, forming relationships called mycorrhizae. She uses these symbiotic fungi to understand how small RNAs can program symbiosis.
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Dr Emanuelle Degli Esposti
College Research Associate
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
A specialist in the politics and emotions of minority identities, Dr Emanuelle Degli Esposti is currently based at the Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge, where she is conducting research on Muslim minorities in Europe. In particular, she is investigating forms of public activism and outreach by Twelver Shi’a Muslims, especially those that might be said to be geared towards the cultivation of a “European Shi’a” identity. As well as exploring the way in which Shi’a communities view and understand themselves, the project seeks to illuminate the ongoing encounter between Islam and Europe, as well as the evolving dynamics within and between different Islamic sects.
Dr Degli Esposti received her doctorate in Politics and International Studies from SOAS, University of London, where she also completed an MSc in Middle East Politics. She completed her undergraduate studies in Philosophy and Modern Languages at Lincoln College, Oxford. The editor and founder of online magazine The Arab Review, Emanuelle is also a published journalist and writer and has more than six years’ experience working in consultancy and intelligence analysis covering Europe and the Middle East.
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College Research Associate
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
A specialist in the politics and emotions of minority identities, Dr Emanuelle Degli Esposti is currently based at the Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge, where she is conducting research on Muslim minorities in Europe. In particular, she is investigating forms of public activism and outreach by Twelver Shi’a Muslims, especially those that might be said to be geared towards the cultivation of a “European Shi’a” identity. As well as exploring the way in which Shi’a communities view and understand themselves, the project seeks to illuminate the ongoing encounter between Islam and Europe, as well as the evolving dynamics within and between different Islamic sects.
Dr Degli Esposti received her doctorate in Politics and International Studies from SOAS, University of London, where she also completed an MSc in Middle East Politics. She completed her undergraduate studies in Philosophy and Modern Languages at Lincoln College, Oxford. The editor and founder of online magazine The Arab Review, Emanuelle is also a published journalist and writer and has more than six years’ experience working in consultancy and intelligence analysis covering Europe and the Middle East.
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Dr Andrea Dimitracopoulos
College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Neuronal Mechanics, Mechano-Biology, Neuroscience, Biophysics, Developmental Biology, Cell Biology
The role of the physical properties of neurons and their environment on axon formation during neuronal development.
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College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Neuronal Mechanics, Mechano-Biology, Neuroscience, Biophysics, Developmental Biology, Cell Biology
The role of the physical properties of neurons and their environment on axon formation during neuronal development.
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Dr Daniel Fuks
Archaeology
As an archaeobotanist, Daniel Fuks studies past human-plant interaction, with a primary geographic focus on the southern Levant. He seeks to bring the local archaeobotanical data he generates to bear on scholarship of long-term plant domestication and diffusion, ancient agriculture/pastoralism, and ancient economic history in the Mediterranean and beyond. He completed undergraduate degrees in Music and Economics at the University of Pittsburgh (USA) and an MA and PhD in Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University (Israel). In between degrees he also gained experience in small-scale vegetable, orchard, and vineyard cultivation in Israel. He conducted his PhD research as a member of the ERC-funded NEGEVBYZ project on the Byzantine-Islamic transition in the Negev, supervised by Prof Ehud Weiss (Bar-Ilan) and project PI, Prof Guy Bar-Oz (U. Haifa). He is currently a British Academy Newton International Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, U. Cambridge, supervised by Prof Matthew Collins and co-supervised by Prof Cyprian Broodbank. His research project, “The flowering desert”, aims to reconstruct first millennium CE agricultural developments in the Negev desert and beyond from ancient herbivore dung microbiomes and rubbish-dump plant remains.
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Archaeology
As an archaeobotanist, Daniel Fuks studies past human-plant interaction, with a primary geographic focus on the southern Levant. He seeks to bring the local archaeobotanical data he generates to bear on scholarship of long-term plant domestication and diffusion, ancient agriculture/pastoralism, and ancient economic history in the Mediterranean and beyond. He completed undergraduate degrees in Music and Economics at the University of Pittsburgh (USA) and an MA and PhD in Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University (Israel). In between degrees he also gained experience in small-scale vegetable, orchard, and vineyard cultivation in Israel. He conducted his PhD research as a member of the ERC-funded NEGEVBYZ project on the Byzantine-Islamic transition in the Negev, supervised by Prof Ehud Weiss (Bar-Ilan) and project PI, Prof Guy Bar-Oz (U. Haifa). He is currently a British Academy Newton International Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, U. Cambridge, supervised by Prof Matthew Collins and co-supervised by Prof Cyprian Broodbank. His research project, “The flowering desert”, aims to reconstruct first millennium CE agricultural developments in the Negev desert and beyond from ancient herbivore dung microbiomes and rubbish-dump plant remains.
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Dr Dorian Gangloff
Natural Sciences (Physical)
Quantum optics, quantum networks, and quantum information processing. Optically-active semiconductor quantum dots. Trapped ions. Control of mesoscopic systems.
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Natural Sciences (Physical)
Quantum optics, quantum networks, and quantum information processing. Optically-active semiconductor quantum dots. Trapped ions. Control of mesoscopic systems.
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Dr Siddharth Ghosh
College Research Associate
Natural Sciences (Physical)
Physics
Sid is a German Research Foundation/DFG Fellow at the Centre for Misfolding Diseases and Maxwell Centre. He is developing a research programme on ultrafast non-dissipative nanofluidic detection of protein-misfolding. He is also a Visiting Researcher at the Single-Molecule Optics group, Leiden Institute of Physics and High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Radboud University. During his postdoctoral research at the Leiden Institute of Physics, he developed a new research line to study persistent current in resistive nanomaterials. The visiting position at Leiden enables him to continue this research. Before moving to Leiden, he was in the Debye Institute of Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht as a Postdoctoral Researcher working on non-dissipative single-molecule detection techniques. He received a PhD in Physics on 'Nanoscale Photonics' from the International Max Planck Research School for Physics of Biological and Complex Systems, Göttingen, Germany. During his PhD, he has developed methods on single-molecule nanofluidics and light-matter interaction in nanostructures. He has an MPhil in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, UK where he worked on AFM correlated electron microscopy technique for contact-free nanotribological characterisation of complex collagen networks of articular cartilage. Before that, he was a Junior Research Fellow in the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore where he developed a single-photon lithography technique to fabricate high-aspect-ratio nanostructures for nanomechanical sensing. His research interests are experimental and theoretical nanophotonics, nanofluidics, nanomechanics, nanofabrications and didactic teaching. He is keen on developing an open platform of liberal arts for curiosity-driven research and studying a student dependent customised supervision methods, which turned into as Open Academic Research. Overleaf has awarded him an Overleaf Advisor position for his contribution to collaborative research communication.
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College Research Associate
Natural Sciences (Physical)
Physics
Sid is a German Research Foundation/DFG Fellow at the Centre for Misfolding Diseases and Maxwell Centre. He is developing a research programme on ultrafast non-dissipative nanofluidic detection of protein-misfolding. He is also a Visiting Researcher at the Single-Molecule Optics group, Leiden Institute of Physics and High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Radboud University. During his postdoctoral research at the Leiden Institute of Physics, he developed a new research line to study persistent current in resistive nanomaterials. The visiting position at Leiden enables him to continue this research. Before moving to Leiden, he was in the Debye Institute of Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht as a Postdoctoral Researcher working on non-dissipative single-molecule detection techniques. He received a PhD in Physics on 'Nanoscale Photonics' from the International Max Planck Research School for Physics of Biological and Complex Systems, Göttingen, Germany. During his PhD, he has developed methods on single-molecule nanofluidics and light-matter interaction in nanostructures. He has an MPhil in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, UK where he worked on AFM correlated electron microscopy technique for contact-free nanotribological characterisation of complex collagen networks of articular cartilage. Before that, he was a Junior Research Fellow in the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore where he developed a single-photon lithography technique to fabricate high-aspect-ratio nanostructures for nanomechanical sensing. His research interests are experimental and theoretical nanophotonics, nanofluidics, nanomechanics, nanofabrications and didactic teaching. He is keen on developing an open platform of liberal arts for curiosity-driven research and studying a student dependent customised supervision methods, which turned into as Open Academic Research. Overleaf has awarded him an Overleaf Advisor position for his contribution to collaborative research communication.
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Dr Sofia Gotti
College Research Associate
History of Art
Dr Sofia Gotti is specialised in Latin American contemporary and feminist art practices in South America and Italy. She is the Newton Trust / Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Department of History of Art at the University of Cambridge where she is working on a monograph about alternative art practices and craft in South America. She has previously taught at The Courtauld Institute of Art, and she held courses on modern and contemporary art as well as feminist and de-colonial theory at Nuova Accademia delle Belle Arti (NABA) in Milan. As a curator, she has worked with organisations internationally including The Feminist Institute, Castello di Rivoli, FM-Centre for Contemporary Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Her research is published in edited books published by Wiley Blackwell and Courtauld Books, as well as academic journals and magazines including ArtMargins, Tate Papers, n.paradoxa, Revista Hispanica Moderna, FlashArt, Mousse, Nero and Art-Agenda.
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College Research Associate
History of Art
Dr Sofia Gotti is specialised in Latin American contemporary and feminist art practices in South America and Italy. She is the Newton Trust / Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Department of History of Art at the University of Cambridge where she is working on a monograph about alternative art practices and craft in South America. She has previously taught at The Courtauld Institute of Art, and she held courses on modern and contemporary art as well as feminist and de-colonial theory at Nuova Accademia delle Belle Arti (NABA) in Milan. As a curator, she has worked with organisations internationally including The Feminist Institute, Castello di Rivoli, FM-Centre for Contemporary Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Her research is published in edited books published by Wiley Blackwell and Courtauld Books, as well as academic journals and magazines including ArtMargins, Tate Papers, n.paradoxa, Revista Hispanica Moderna, FlashArt, Mousse, Nero and Art-Agenda.
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Dr Calbert Graham
Senior Research Associate
Linguistics
Phonetics (speech science)
My current research interests centre on phonetic (speech science) theory and its applications in forensic speaker identification (and, in my previous research, language technology). Forensic phonetics is concerned with the analysis of spoken language for investigative purposes where the characteristics of an individual’s speech are critical to their identity. More and more court cases involve the need to establish the speaker of some recorded speech - a hoax emergency call, a fraudulent phone transaction, and so on. However, voices are not like fingerprints or DNA. A person's voice varies, depending for instance on whether they are sober or not, how loud and fast he or she is speaking, among many other factors. Despite this wide variation in speech, however, it is still subject to structural constraints that make processing by both humans and machine possible. My research focusses on the computational modelling of speech to isolate the invariant properties of a person’s voice or speech uttered in different contexts that are critical to their identity.
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Senior Research Associate
Linguistics
Phonetics (speech science)
My current research interests centre on phonetic (speech science) theory and its applications in forensic speaker identification (and, in my previous research, language technology). Forensic phonetics is concerned with the analysis of spoken language for investigative purposes where the characteristics of an individual’s speech are critical to their identity. More and more court cases involve the need to establish the speaker of some recorded speech - a hoax emergency call, a fraudulent phone transaction, and so on. However, voices are not like fingerprints or DNA. A person's voice varies, depending for instance on whether they are sober or not, how loud and fast he or she is speaking, among many other factors. Despite this wide variation in speech, however, it is still subject to structural constraints that make processing by both humans and machine possible. My research focusses on the computational modelling of speech to isolate the invariant properties of a person’s voice or speech uttered in different contexts that are critical to their identity.
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Dr Geraldine Jowett
College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Stem cell and developmental biology.
Dr Jowett completed her undergraduate degree in human developmental and regenerative biology at Harvard University. Here, she joined Prof Lee Rubin’s lab to create genetically engineered stem cell models of Parkinson’s disease. She then moved to King’s College London with a Wellcome trust PhD studentship to further pursue her interest in modelling human biology. Under the interdisciplinary co-supervision of Dr Eileen Gentleman and Dr Joana Neves, she developed complex co-culture systems of innate lymphoid cells and mucosal organoids in 3D synthetic hydrogels. She harnessed this approach to uncover how this sentinel immune population develops and interacts with the epithelium in the context of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
As a Schmidt Science Fellow in Prof Azim Surani’s group at the Gurdon Institute, she has begun applying this interdisciplinary skillset to understanding mammalian germ cell development. She is particularly intrigued by the role of physical forces, and whether these instruct the commitment to sperm or egg cell fate. She was recently awarded a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship with Prof Surani and Prof Paluch to investigate the potential biophysical mechanisms underlying sex determination of gametes, which could inform future in vitro gametogenesis strategies.
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College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Stem cell and developmental biology.
Dr Jowett completed her undergraduate degree in human developmental and regenerative biology at Harvard University. Here, she joined Prof Lee Rubin’s lab to create genetically engineered stem cell models of Parkinson’s disease. She then moved to King’s College London with a Wellcome trust PhD studentship to further pursue her interest in modelling human biology. Under the interdisciplinary co-supervision of Dr Eileen Gentleman and Dr Joana Neves, she developed complex co-culture systems of innate lymphoid cells and mucosal organoids in 3D synthetic hydrogels. She harnessed this approach to uncover how this sentinel immune population develops and interacts with the epithelium in the context of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
As a Schmidt Science Fellow in Prof Azim Surani’s group at the Gurdon Institute, she has begun applying this interdisciplinary skillset to understanding mammalian germ cell development. She is particularly intrigued by the role of physical forces, and whether these instruct the commitment to sperm or egg cell fate. She was recently awarded a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship with Prof Surani and Prof Paluch to investigate the potential biophysical mechanisms underlying sex determination of gametes, which could inform future in vitro gametogenesis strategies.
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Dr Eva Kreysing
College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
I studied physics at RWTH Aachen University (Germany) specialising in theoretical solid-state physics. During my master thesis, I worked at the Institute for Quantum Information (IQI, RWTH Aachen) with Prof. Dr. Barbara Terhal and Prof. Dr. David DiVincenzo on improving the readout of transmon qubits with squeezed radiation.
During my PhD, I worked at the research centre Jülich at the institute for bioelectronics (ICS-8) under supervision of Prof. Dr. Andreas Offenhäusser. Here, I focused on the improvement of surface plasmon resonance microscopy (SPRM) for the quantitative characterization of the cell-substrate interface. This allowed us, not only to study cell adhesion of neurons, but also to quantify the fluctuations of the adhering cell membrane of beating cardiomyocytes with nanometre accuracy. Additionally, we could introduce SPRM as a label-free, non-invasive method for measuring the intracellular refractive index in vitro.
In January 2019, I started my work as a postdoc in the Franze lab at the University of Cambridge. My research focuses on the impact of physical cues on the development of neuronal networks. In particular, I study how mechanical interactions between neurons and their environment influence their electrical maturation.
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College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
I studied physics at RWTH Aachen University (Germany) specialising in theoretical solid-state physics. During my master thesis, I worked at the Institute for Quantum Information (IQI, RWTH Aachen) with Prof. Dr. Barbara Terhal and Prof. Dr. David DiVincenzo on improving the readout of transmon qubits with squeezed radiation.
During my PhD, I worked at the research centre Jülich at the institute for bioelectronics (ICS-8) under supervision of Prof. Dr. Andreas Offenhäusser. Here, I focused on the improvement of surface plasmon resonance microscopy (SPRM) for the quantitative characterization of the cell-substrate interface. This allowed us, not only to study cell adhesion of neurons, but also to quantify the fluctuations of the adhering cell membrane of beating cardiomyocytes with nanometre accuracy. Additionally, we could introduce SPRM as a label-free, non-invasive method for measuring the intracellular refractive index in vitro.
In January 2019, I started my work as a postdoc in the Franze lab at the University of Cambridge. My research focuses on the impact of physical cues on the development of neuronal networks. In particular, I study how mechanical interactions between neurons and their environment influence their electrical maturation.
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Dr Aviad Levin
College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Biophysical Chemistry, Peptide Self-Assembly, Protein Aggregation, Biotechnology.
In nature, sophisticated materials and structures are formed through self-assembly, a process where chemically simple building blocks form complex arrays of biomolecules functioning cooperatively to underpin biological activity in living systems. This phenomenon has inspired a sustained research effort to elucidate the basic physical principles which govern self-assembly and the nature of the structures that emerge from this process, in contexts ranging from artificial materials to understanding human disease. My research interests lie in developing microfluidic approaches for the study of the fundamental driving forces involved in the self-assembly of peptides and proteins into ordered structures on the very small scale at which such processes occur inside living cells. By harnessing small volume confinement achieved by microfluidics, I specifically focus on the early molecular level interactions that trigger protein aggregation and deposition in aberrant protein disorders. I will further focus on elucidating the mechanism by which misfolded protein species can propagate in tissues. I thus aim to extend current biophysical approaches and gain fundamental understanding of the behaviour of biomolecules in systems with spatial inhomogeneities, thus bridging length scales from the atomic through nano to the microscale.
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College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Biophysical Chemistry, Peptide Self-Assembly, Protein Aggregation, Biotechnology.
In nature, sophisticated materials and structures are formed through self-assembly, a process where chemically simple building blocks form complex arrays of biomolecules functioning cooperatively to underpin biological activity in living systems. This phenomenon has inspired a sustained research effort to elucidate the basic physical principles which govern self-assembly and the nature of the structures that emerge from this process, in contexts ranging from artificial materials to understanding human disease. My research interests lie in developing microfluidic approaches for the study of the fundamental driving forces involved in the self-assembly of peptides and proteins into ordered structures on the very small scale at which such processes occur inside living cells. By harnessing small volume confinement achieved by microfluidics, I specifically focus on the early molecular level interactions that trigger protein aggregation and deposition in aberrant protein disorders. I will further focus on elucidating the mechanism by which misfolded protein species can propagate in tissues. I thus aim to extend current biophysical approaches and gain fundamental understanding of the behaviour of biomolecules in systems with spatial inhomogeneities, thus bridging length scales from the atomic through nano to the microscale.
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Dr Caroline Liqui Lung
College Research Associate
Economics
Intersection of Behavioral Economics and Microeconomic Theory.
I am a Janeway Institute and Keynes Fund Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the faculty of Economics. I mainly work on the intersection of Behavioral Economics and Microeconomic Theory, but I am also interested in Experimental Economics. In general, I work on topics related to social identity and diversity. In my current research, I study how social context affects individual belief formation, and I show how this does not only influence the quality of people’s educational and occupational choices, but also the persistence of stereotypes and social norms, and the degree of diversity in firms and educational settings.
I obtained a Ph.D. in Economics from the Paris School of Economics. I also hold a Bachelor's and Master’s degree in Econometrics and Operations Research from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and a Master’s degree in Economics from the Paris School of Economics. I previously worked as an econometrician at the Dutch central bank and I was a visiting student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) during spring semester 2020.
In my free time, I am an enthusiastic musician, dancer, reader and tennis player who loves good food and a long walk with her dog.
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College Research Associate
Economics
Intersection of Behavioral Economics and Microeconomic Theory.
I am a Janeway Institute and Keynes Fund Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the faculty of Economics. I mainly work on the intersection of Behavioral Economics and Microeconomic Theory, but I am also interested in Experimental Economics. In general, I work on topics related to social identity and diversity. In my current research, I study how social context affects individual belief formation, and I show how this does not only influence the quality of people’s educational and occupational choices, but also the persistence of stereotypes and social norms, and the degree of diversity in firms and educational settings.
I obtained a Ph.D. in Economics from the Paris School of Economics. I also hold a Bachelor's and Master’s degree in Econometrics and Operations Research from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and a Master’s degree in Economics from the Paris School of Economics. I previously worked as an econometrician at the Dutch central bank and I was a visiting student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) during spring semester 2020.
In my free time, I am an enthusiastic musician, dancer, reader and tennis player who loves good food and a long walk with her dog.
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Dr Diala Lteif
College Research Associate
History
My research focuses on the role of migration and class struggle in the production of space. My doctorate considers these questions through an urban historical study of the Karantina neighbourhood in Beirut, Lebanon over a century (1918-2018); and my postdoctoral work builds on this project and considers the intersection of labour mobilizations and urban politics. At its core, my research aims to centre marginalized communities, such as refugees, migrants, and labourers, within urban historical narratives. During my time in the Geography and Planning department at the University of Toronto, I was a Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation doctoral scholar and a Trillium awardee. I also hold an MFA in Transdisciplinary Design from Parsons the New School for Design which I pursued as a Fulbright scholar. Up until 2016, I served as full-time faculty and deputy director to the Design Department at ALBA (Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts), where I taught the Global Design studio to first year masters students and supervised MA thesis projects.
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College Research Associate
History
My research focuses on the role of migration and class struggle in the production of space. My doctorate considers these questions through an urban historical study of the Karantina neighbourhood in Beirut, Lebanon over a century (1918-2018); and my postdoctoral work builds on this project and considers the intersection of labour mobilizations and urban politics. At its core, my research aims to centre marginalized communities, such as refugees, migrants, and labourers, within urban historical narratives. During my time in the Geography and Planning department at the University of Toronto, I was a Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation doctoral scholar and a Trillium awardee. I also hold an MFA in Transdisciplinary Design from Parsons the New School for Design which I pursued as a Fulbright scholar. Up until 2016, I served as full-time faculty and deputy director to the Design Department at ALBA (Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts), where I taught the Global Design studio to first year masters students and supervised MA thesis projects.
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Leonie Luginbuehl
Natural Science (Biological)
Multicellularity has evolved repeatedly across the tree of life and allowed the elaboration of fundamental biological processes ranging from organ development and reproduction to specialised metabolisms compartmented into specific cell types. One particularly striking example of this phenomenon is associated with photosynthesis, the process by which inorganic carbon is fixed into sugars. In plants that use the C4 photosynthesis pathway, two cell types in the leaf, the mesophyll and bundle sheath cells, co-operate to separate the metabolic reactions of photosynthesis into two different spatial compartments. This compartmentalisation drastically increases photosynthetic efficiency. As a consequence, many of the world’s most productive crops, such as maize, are C4 plants. A key step in C4 evolution was to restrict the expression of photosynthesis genes, which are expressed in all cell types in leaves of ancestral C3 plants, to either mesophyll or bundle sheath cells. Using photosynthesis as a model, my research aims to understand the genetic basis of cell type specific gene expression in leaves. I am using a combination of experimental, computational, and synthetic biology approaches to identify the gene regulatory mechanisms underlying cell type specific gene expression in C3 and C4 species.
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Natural Science (Biological)
Multicellularity has evolved repeatedly across the tree of life and allowed the elaboration of fundamental biological processes ranging from organ development and reproduction to specialised metabolisms compartmented into specific cell types. One particularly striking example of this phenomenon is associated with photosynthesis, the process by which inorganic carbon is fixed into sugars. In plants that use the C4 photosynthesis pathway, two cell types in the leaf, the mesophyll and bundle sheath cells, co-operate to separate the metabolic reactions of photosynthesis into two different spatial compartments. This compartmentalisation drastically increases photosynthetic efficiency. As a consequence, many of the world’s most productive crops, such as maize, are C4 plants. A key step in C4 evolution was to restrict the expression of photosynthesis genes, which are expressed in all cell types in leaves of ancestral C3 plants, to either mesophyll or bundle sheath cells. Using photosynthesis as a model, my research aims to understand the genetic basis of cell type specific gene expression in leaves. I am using a combination of experimental, computational, and synthetic biology approaches to identify the gene regulatory mechanisms underlying cell type specific gene expression in C3 and C4 species.
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Dr Kerry A Mackereth
College Research Associate
Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS)
In her role as a postdoctoral researcher with the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies and the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, she examines the relationship between gender and technology. In particular, she is interested in how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies problematise our concept of what it means to be human, approaching this question from a feminist and anti-racist perspective. Her broad research interests include artificial intelligence, science fiction, posthumanism, gender theory, critical race theory, critical prison studies, and theories of political violence. She undertook her MPhil and doctorate degree in Multi-Disciplinary Gender Studies at the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies, and completed her undergraduate degree in Human, Social, and Political Sciences at Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge.
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College Research Associate
Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS)
In her role as a postdoctoral researcher with the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies and the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, she examines the relationship between gender and technology. In particular, she is interested in how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies problematise our concept of what it means to be human, approaching this question from a feminist and anti-racist perspective. Her broad research interests include artificial intelligence, science fiction, posthumanism, gender theory, critical race theory, critical prison studies, and theories of political violence. She undertook her MPhil and doctorate degree in Multi-Disciplinary Gender Studies at the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies, and completed her undergraduate degree in Human, Social, and Political Sciences at Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge.
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Dr Hilary C Martin
College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Genetics
Basis of common and rare genetic diseases; population and evolutionary genetics; using genetics to find new drug targets
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College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Genetics
Basis of common and rare genetic diseases; population and evolutionary genetics; using genetics to find new drug targets
Full profile
Dr Lauren McHugh
College Research Associate
Natural Sciences (Physical)
Dr Lauren McHugh completed both her MChem (2010-2015) and PhD (2015-2019) in Chemistry at the University of St Andrews, where her PhD was completed under the supervision of Prof. Russell Morris FRS. Her research project was conducted in collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and focused on improving the water-stability, gas adsorption and processability of porous materials, such as metal-organic frameworks and activated carbons. During her PhD, Lauren showed that these materials could successfully be used in the purification of contaminated airstreams.
Lauren moved to the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge in January 2020 as a Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Research Associate. Her current research is conducted under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Bennett and focuses on the synthesis and characterisation of non-crystalline and glassy metal-organic frameworks and hybrid ceramic materials.
Full profile
College Research Associate
Natural Sciences (Physical)
Dr Lauren McHugh completed both her MChem (2010-2015) and PhD (2015-2019) in Chemistry at the University of St Andrews, where her PhD was completed under the supervision of Prof. Russell Morris FRS. Her research project was conducted in collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and focused on improving the water-stability, gas adsorption and processability of porous materials, such as metal-organic frameworks and activated carbons. During her PhD, Lauren showed that these materials could successfully be used in the purification of contaminated airstreams.
Lauren moved to the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge in January 2020 as a Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Research Associate. Her current research is conducted under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Bennett and focuses on the synthesis and characterisation of non-crystalline and glassy metal-organic frameworks and hybrid ceramic materials.
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Dr Alex McLaughlin
College Research Associate
Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS)
Political Philosophy
Alex’s research is in political philosophy, and he currently holds a British Academy Fellowship at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. He is interested in questions of global distributive justice, particularly in relation to climate change. His British Academy Project aims to provide a normative framework for thinking about claims to a scarce global carbon budget, taking into account both widespread noncompliance with obligations towards climate change mitigation and the existential risks associated with severe climate impacts. He is also interested in the ethics of political resistance and in debates about methodology in political theory and philosophy.
Full profile
College Research Associate
Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS)
Political Philosophy
Alex’s research is in political philosophy, and he currently holds a British Academy Fellowship at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. He is interested in questions of global distributive justice, particularly in relation to climate change. His British Academy Project aims to provide a normative framework for thinking about claims to a scarce global carbon budget, taking into account both widespread noncompliance with obligations towards climate change mitigation and the existential risks associated with severe climate impacts. He is also interested in the ethics of political resistance and in debates about methodology in political theory and philosophy.
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Dr Joana Meier
College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Zoology
I am Group Leader at the Tree of Life Programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and a Branco Weiss Fellow at the Zoology Department of the University of Cambridge. My team works on evolutionary genomics, the ecology and evolution of adaptive radiation, and on hybridisation. My main study systems are Lake Victoria cichlid fishes and Heliconius and ithomiine butterflies.
Full profile
College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Zoology
I am Group Leader at the Tree of Life Programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and a Branco Weiss Fellow at the Zoology Department of the University of Cambridge. My team works on evolutionary genomics, the ecology and evolution of adaptive radiation, and on hybridisation. My main study systems are Lake Victoria cichlid fishes and Heliconius and ithomiine butterflies.
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Dr Elizabeth Michael
College Research Associate, Director of Studies in Psychology
Psychological and Behavioural Sciences (PBS)
Cognitive Neuroscience/Visual Perception
My research focuses on the brain-wide interactions that allow us to make difficult perceptual judgements, like discriminating between very similar objects, or finding a target in a cluttered environment.
It is often assumed that brain regions play a fixed or continuous role in perception, but an emerging view suggests that this is not the case - the role played by any given brain region is strongly influenced by our level of experience with a particular task. In my future research, I will study how the contribution of different brain regions to making these kinds of difficult judgement change as we become more experienced with the task. For example, when we are trying to detect a target in a cluttered environment, we might first heavily rely on brain regions that help us to ignore distracting information, until our visual system becomes robust enough to withstand this interference.
Full profile
College Research Associate, Director of Studies in Psychology
Psychological and Behavioural Sciences (PBS)
Cognitive Neuroscience/Visual Perception
My research focuses on the brain-wide interactions that allow us to make difficult perceptual judgements, like discriminating between very similar objects, or finding a target in a cluttered environment.
It is often assumed that brain regions play a fixed or continuous role in perception, but an emerging view suggests that this is not the case - the role played by any given brain region is strongly influenced by our level of experience with a particular task. In my future research, I will study how the contribution of different brain regions to making these kinds of difficult judgement change as we become more experienced with the task. For example, when we are trying to detect a target in a cluttered environment, we might first heavily rely on brain regions that help us to ignore distracting information, until our visual system becomes robust enough to withstand this interference.
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Dr Navid Nabijou
College Research Associate
Mathematics
Algebraic geometry
Dr Navid Nabijou is a pure mathematician, specialising in algebraic geometry. This means that he spends most of his time thinking about shapes which can be defined using polynomial equations. He is interested in studying the inherent properties of these shapes, in classifying them and understanding how they relate to one another. His research centres on Gromov-Witten invariants, which are "counts" of curves lying inside such shapes. Though intuitively appealing, these counts are extremely difficult to calculate, and have been a source of fascination for mathematicians since the 19th century. Over the past 30 years, deep connections to theoretical physics have been unearthed, leading to a revitalisation of the field and the discovery of many deep and unexpected results. The common theme in his work is the exploitation of hidden combinatorial structures inherent to parameter spaces of curves, in order to produce new computations and uncover new structures governing the Gromov-Witten invariants. This has required the development of novel combinatorial techniques for probing the geometry of these spaces. He grew up in London, obtaining his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Imperial College. After that, he spent two years in Glasgow as a postdoctoral researcher, before moving to Cambridge in September 2020 as a Herchel Smith Fellow.
Full profile
College Research Associate
Mathematics
Algebraic geometry
Dr Navid Nabijou is a pure mathematician, specialising in algebraic geometry. This means that he spends most of his time thinking about shapes which can be defined using polynomial equations. He is interested in studying the inherent properties of these shapes, in classifying them and understanding how they relate to one another. His research centres on Gromov-Witten invariants, which are "counts" of curves lying inside such shapes. Though intuitively appealing, these counts are extremely difficult to calculate, and have been a source of fascination for mathematicians since the 19th century. Over the past 30 years, deep connections to theoretical physics have been unearthed, leading to a revitalisation of the field and the discovery of many deep and unexpected results. The common theme in his work is the exploitation of hidden combinatorial structures inherent to parameter spaces of curves, in order to produce new computations and uncover new structures governing the Gromov-Witten invariants. This has required the development of novel combinatorial techniques for probing the geometry of these spaces. He grew up in London, obtaining his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Imperial College. After that, he spent two years in Glasgow as a postdoctoral researcher, before moving to Cambridge in September 2020 as a Herchel Smith Fellow.
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Dr Jyoti Nangalia
College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Cancer genomics
Jyoti Nangalia a CRUK funded clinician scientist and consultant haematologist with a passion for cancer genomics. During her PhD, she discovered mutations in the gene CALR in the vast majority of patients with a certain type of blood cancer, called the myeloproliferative neoplasms (Nangalia et al, NEJM, Dec 2013). Testing for CALR mutations in clinical practice to diagnose patients is now routine internationally. More recently, together with other researchers, she studied the DNA of over 2000 patients with these blood cancers to build an accurate online personalised predictor of outcome for patients by integrating clinical and genomic information (Grinfeld, Nangalia et al, NEJM 2018). This tool is being increasingly used by clinicians to assess the future outlook of their patients. She believes that using cancer genetics to support clinical decision-making is a critical application of new genetic sequencing technologies, and her future aspiration is to provide clinicians with patient personalised decision-making tools that incorporate clinical and genomic information across all blood cancers. Her research also focuses on using sequencing technologies to understand exactly when these blood cancers originate in patients during their lifetime and how this relates to normal blood cell development and ageing.
Full profile
College Research Associate
Natural Science (Biological)
Cancer genomics
Jyoti Nangalia a CRUK funded clinician scientist and consultant haematologist with a passion for cancer genomics. During her PhD, she discovered mutations in the gene CALR in the vast majority of patients with a certain type of blood cancer, called the myeloproliferative neoplasms (Nangalia et al, NEJM, Dec 2013). Testing for CALR mutations in clinical practice to diagnose patients is now routine internationally. More recently, together with other researchers, she studied the DNA of over 2000 patients with these blood cancers to build an accurate online personalised predictor of outcome for patients by integrating clinical and genomic information (Grinfeld, Nangalia et al, NEJM 2018). This tool is being increasingly used by clinicians to assess the future outlook of their patients. She believes that using cancer genetics to support clinical decision-making is a critical application of new genetic sequencing technologies, and her future aspiration is to provide clinicians with patient personalised decision-making tools that incorporate clinical and genomic information across all blood cancers. Her research also focuses on using sequencing technologies to understand exactly when these blood cancers originate in patients during their lifetime and how this relates to normal blood cell development and ageing.
Full profile