Alumni

Antonia Kefala Stavridi
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022 – 2023
Tonia was born in Athens, Greece. She did her undergraduate in Biotechnology at Imperial College London, UK, followed by an MPhil in Pharmacology at the University of Cambridge, UK, focusing on optimising the delivery of human tetratricopeptide repeat proteins into cancer cells. She then worked in the Tissue Diagnostics and Sequencing marketing team at Roche Diagnostics UK before returning to Cambridge to pursue a PhD in Biochemistry in Tom Blundell’s group, focusing on cryo-EM studies of the non-homologous end joining DNA repair pathway and early-stage drug discovery. Tonia joined the DNA Replication Group in October 2022 as a postdoctoral fellow to investigate the mechanisms of human DNA replication initiation. In her free time, Tonia enjoys travelling, socialising with friends, boxing, and visiting art galleries.

Anna Schmücker
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022 – 2023
Anna was born in Neustrelitz, Germany. She did her Masters at the University of Vienna, Austria, and her PhD at the Gregor-Mendel-Institute, part of the Vienna BioCenter. Her work, done in the laboratory of Frederic Berger, focused on post-translational modifications of histone variants and histone variant deposition by chromatin remodelers. Anna joined the DNA Replication Group in October 2022 as a postdoctoral fellow to study genomic localization and proteomic composition of origins in human cells. In her free time, Anna enjoys exploring the world, experimenting with new hobbies and inventing new toys for her cats because they get bored easily.

Marina Ivanova
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2020 – 2023
Marina was born in Moscow, Russia.  She did her diploma degree in Biochemistry at Moscow State University and her PhD (an X-ray crystallographic study of proteins involved in establishing and maintaining cell polarity) at the Francis Crick Institute, in London, UK. Marina then worked in Helen Saibil’s group, at Birbeck College, University of London to learn electron microscopy.  She joined the DNA Replication Group in October 2020 as a postdoctoral fellow to investigate the structure and organisation of chromatin.  In her free time, Marina enjoys hiking, photography and travelling around the world.
Group publications

Yasunori Noguchi
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2016 – 2022
Yasunori was born in Nagasaki, Japan.  In 2014, he obtained his PhD from Kyushu University, Japan, for his work on DNA replication initiation in Escherichia coli.  He stayed on at Kyushu University for two years as a postdoctoral fellow to investigate DNA replication and chromosome partitioning before joining the DNA replication group in June 2016 as a postdoctoral fellow. Yasunori enjoys football, fishing and karaoke.
Group publications

Max Reuter
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2016 – 2021
Max was born in Regensburg, Germany. He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology in 2015 from the Gene Centre of the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Germany for his work on the functional characterization of the first mRNP biogenesis factor involved in RNAPIII transcription in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. He joined the DNA Replication Group in 2016 as a postdoctoral fellow to work on the MCM2-7 complex in helicase activation and DNA repair. Max enjoys doing sports, photography, and reading. and is a voluntary paramedic.
Group publications

Vera Leber
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2018 – 2021
Vera was born in Vienna, Austria. She did her undergraduate studies at the University of Graz, Austria, and then her PhD work at the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK, where she functionally and structurally characterised the budding yeast kinetochore complex CBF3 in the group of Martin Singleton. She joined the DNA Replication Group in August 2018 as a postdoctoral fellow to investigate pre-RC formation. In her free time, Vera enjoys travelling around Africa and other places, horse riding and reading.

Sarah Schneider
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2016 – 2020
Sarah was born in Berlin, Germany. She obtained her PhD from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory Heidelberg, Germany, where she used biochemical, cryo-EM and computational methods to study a selective autophagy pathway in yeast. Sarah joined the DNA Replication Group in June 2016 as a postdoctoral fellow to structurally characterise key intermediates of the pre-replicative complex assembly pathway, which is important for DNA replication initiation. In her leisure time, Sarah enjoys indie concerts and travelling.
Group publications

Noelia Fernández-Rivero
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2015 – 2019
Noelia was born in Bilbao, Spain. She obtained her PhD in Biochemistry in 2014 from the University of Basque Country, Spain, for her work on the structural and functional characterization of the interaction of the Xenopus histone chaperone nucleoplasmin with histones to understand its role in nucleosome assembly. She joined the DNA Replication Group in 2015 as a postdoctoral fellow to investigate the role of the human heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) in heterochromatin formation and how the origin recognition complex (ORC) regulates this process. Noelia enjoys reading, dancing and taking long walks through the bustling streets of London.

Marta Barbon
PhD Student, 2014 – 2018
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2018 – 2019
Marta was born in Treviso, Italy, a pleasant inland town near Venice. She obtained both her BSc in Biological Sciences and her MSc in Biomolecular and Cellular Sciences from the University of Ferrara, Italy. Marta then did two internships on Erasmus fellowships in 2012 and in 2014 at the Centre for Structural Biochemistry (CBS) in Montpellier, France, while doing her MSc under the supervision of Dr Hélène Déméné and Dr Albane LeMaire for her work on the structural analysis of MLL5, an epigenetic enzyme that is frequently deleted in myelomas. Marta joined the DNA Replication Group in October 2014 as a PhD student. She defended her thesis in October 2018 and continues her work with the Group as a postdoctoral fellow. Marta enjoys travelling, cooking, running and discovering London.
Group publications

Owen Burbidge
Senior Biochemical Research Scientist, 2018 – 2019
Owen was born in Oxford, UK. After completing a BSc in Biochemistry at Newcastle University, UK, he worked in industry for a large pharmaceutical company and then as a research scientist in the UK government before moving into academic research at the University of Oxford, UK. Owen subsequently completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge, UK, where he developed single-domain antibodies to bind and stabilise the tumour suppressor protein p16INK4a. He joined the DNA Replication Group in July 2018 as a senior biochemical research scientist. In his spare time, Owen enjoys skydiving, cooking and photography.

Cecilia Pennica
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2018 – 2019
Cecilia was born in Latina, Italy, a small town near Rome. She obtained her BSc in Biochemistry from the University of York, UK, where she also did her PhD, on the characterisation of the molecular interaction underpinning the segregation of a multidrug resistance plasmid. Cecilia joined the DNA Replication Group in October 2018 to study how the replicative helicase becomes loaded onto DNA. In her free time, she enjoys travelling, theatre, reading and walking around London.

Katalin Kondas
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2016 – 2018
Katalin was born in Edeleny, a small town in Hungary. She received her PhD from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, for characterising the functionality of the human WFIKKN1 protein and examining the biological importance of interactions between this protein and growth factors. She took a career break to raise her two daughters and then joined the DNA Replication Group in October 2016 as a Daphne Jackson Fellow sponsored by BBSRC. Her research work focuses on elucidating the molecular and structural basis of gene silencing by HP1 isoforms. In her free time, Katalin loves walking with her family in the country side.

Alberto Riera
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2011 – 2017
Alberto was born in Gijón, Spain. He obtained his PhD in 2007 from the University of Oviedo, Asturies, Spain for his thesis on glucose repression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. He then worked at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany, studying chromosome segregation, before joining the DNA Replication Group in September 2011 as a postdoctoral fellow. Alberto likes cars, sports, computers, video games and photography.
Group publications

Alejandra Canteli
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2011 – 2013
Alejandra was born in Asturias, Spain. She studied biology at the University of Oviedo, Spain, where she also did her PhD, on mitochondrial morphology and glucose repression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in the group of Professor Fernando Moreno. She joined the DNA Replication Group in December 2011. In her leisure time, Alejandra enjoys reading, cooking, running and roller skating.
Group publications

Stefan Samel
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2010 – 2013
Stefan was born in Ludwigshafen, Germany. He studied chemistry at the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany and Indiana State University, USA. Stefan’s PhD work was done in the group of Professor Lars-Oliver Essen, Philipps-Universität Marburg, and focussed on the crystallographic analysis of non-ribosomal peptide synthetases. In October 2010, he joined the DNA Replication Group as a postdoctral fellow supported by the DFG (German Research Council) to investigate the structure of the pre-replication complex. Stefan enjoys running and reading as well as exploring life and customs in Britain.
Group publications

Carmen Herrera
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2009 – 2013
Carmen was born in Cordoba, Spain. She received her PhD in Biochemistry in 2009 from the University of Granada, Spain, and joined the DNA Replication Group in December 2009 as a postdoctoral fellow. Carmen enjoys travelling, cycling and running.
Group publications

Cécile Evrin
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2007 – 2011
Cécile was born in Reunion Island, France. She obtained her PhD in Biochemistry in 2006 from the University of Paris Diderot-Paris 7 and joined the DNA Replication Group in May 2007 as a postdoctoral fellow. Cécile enjoys travelling, sewing, soap operas and fish and chips on Fridays.

Cecile left the Group in August 2011 and took a postdoctoral position in Dr Karim Labib’s group at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research UK, continuing her work on DNA replication in yeast.
Group publications

Juergen Zech
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2007 – 2011
Juergen was born in Aschaffenburg, Germany. He studied chemistry at the Bayerische Julius Maximilians University Würzburg and did his Diploma thesis in 2000 in the DNA Replication Group of Friedrich Grummt at the Institute for Biochemistry. He did his PhD in the laboratory of Rolf Marschalek at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and received his PhD degree in 2005 for his examination of the genomic stability of the MLL gene, which is frequently involved in chromosomal translocations associated with infant leukaemia. He did his first postdoc at the Technical University of Munich before joining the DNA Replication Group in July 2007. Juergen enjoys cycling, running and reading.

Juergen left the Group in June 2011 and took a postdoctoral position in Dr Jacob Dalgaard’s group at the University of Warwick, UK, working on replication termination in fission yeast.
Group publications

Stefan Uhle
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2006 – 2008
Stefan was born in Herzberg, Germany. He did his doctoral work, on the role of the COP9 signalsome complex (CSN) within the proteasomal degradation pathway, in the laboratory of Wolfgang Dubiel and obtained his PhD in 2004 from the Free University of Berlin. In 2005, Stefan went to the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre to do postdoctoral work in the Cell Cycle Group of Luis Aragón, and in November 2006, supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship, he joined the DNA Replication Group. Stefan enjoys swimming, cycling and hiking.

Stefan left the Group in December 2008 and took a position as a Patent Manager and Business Developer at MBM ScienceBridge GmbH, Göttinger, Germany.
Group publications