Lucy Bedwell
Cohort: 2022
Research Interests: I am interested in characterizing microglial-mediated neuroinflammation in frontotemporal neurodegenerative disorders. To do this, I plan to utilize spatial proteomic techniques to examine microglial phenotypes in relation to disease state and pathology.
Ranya Behbehani
Cohort: 2022
Research Interests: I am interested in the study of protein homeostasis and how the regulation of protein folding, misfolding, and degradation contributes to a diseased cellular state. During my PhD, I will be working on autophagy and the unfolded protein response (UPR-ER) to explore this further.
Sara Crooks
Cohort: 2022
Research Interests: My chosen field of research is neuroscience, predominantly neuroimmunology. I am interested in investigating the role that the immune system plays in various diseases of the nervous system and how inflammation can affect disease presentation and progression.
Ellie Fox
Cohort: 2022
Research Interests: I am interested in intracellular membrane trafficking; specifically the molecular mechanism behind glucose transporter GLUT4 delivery to the cell surface and how this goes wrong in people progressing to type 2 diabetes. I will investigate this using kinetic cell biology assays, high content imaging and screening technologies in collaboration with AstraZeneca.
Rachel Jackson
Cohort: 2022
Research Interests: I am interested in how the human genome defends itself from invaders such as viruses and retrotransposons. I am investigating how the HUman Silencing Hub (HUSH) is able to distinguish foreign DNA from our own genes, and the mechanism of silencing.
Paula-Peace James-Okoro
Cohort: 2022
Research Interests: My research interest is in the mechanisms that control body weight and blood sugar levels, especially in the gut-brain-pancreatic axis, and how they can be harnessed to develop treatments for metabolic diseases like obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Holly Monkhouse
Cohort: 2022
Research Interests: My research interests are in investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying neurological diseases, specifically in relation to altered sphingolipid metabolism.
Jana Šebestíková
Cohort: 2022
Research Interests: My research interest is on mechanisms regulating clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME). In particular, the kinases from the NAK (Numb Associated Kinases) family that can directly interact with components of the CME machinery.
Jessy Zhu
Cohort: 2022
Research Interests: My research interest lies in molecular medicine, cancer cell biology, and the field of drug discovery. I am keen to dissect the mechanisms underlying tumorigenesis (e.g., protein misfolding), find potential therapeutic targets, and identify small molecule modulators of the Integrated Stress Response.