Lab Alumni
Past Group Members
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
PhD
Chris Weekes
PhD Student, 2017 – 2021
Chris was born in Chichester, on the South Coast of England. He received his BSc and MSc in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, UK. For his MSc, Chris investigated the role of TCF25 in the DNA damage response. He joined the DNA Replication Group in October 2017 as a PhD student to work on engineering replicative helicase variants to uncover novel roles in the S-phase of DNA replication. Outside of the lab, Chris enjoys competing in triathlons, rock climbing and hiking.
Silvia Tognetti
PhD Student, 2010 – 2014
Silvia was born in Verona, Italy. She obtained her BSc in Health Biotechnology and MSc in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology from the University of Padova, Italy. Silvia’s Master’s thesis project was carried out at Univeristy College London in the group of Andrei Okorokov where she characterised DNA and protein binding of the human replication factor MCM10. After graduation, she stayed on for another year in Andrei Okorokov’s group to continue working on DNA replication. Silvia joined the DNA Replication Group in October 2010 as a PhD student. Silvia enjoys reading and long walks.
Group publications
Pippa Clarke
PhD Student, 2007 – 2011
Pippa was born in Lincoln, England. She obtained her BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Reading in 2004. After graduating, Pippa worked for Lonza Biologics as a Purification Development Scientist and in 2006 she registered as an MRes student at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre. She joined the DNA Replication Group in October 2007 as a PhD student. In her spare time, Pippa enjoys travelling, swimming, reading and eating chocolate.
Pippa left the Group in 2011 and took a position as an Account Executive with Succinct Healthcare Communications.
Group publications
MSc / MRes
Shivni Chauhan
MRes Student, 2022
Shivni was born in London, England. She received her BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Bristol, UK. Following this, Shivni worked at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as a scientific assessor. She then joined Imperial College London in September 2021 as a Molecular and Cellular Biosciences MRes student. Her previous project involved engineering circuits for synthetic zinc finger protein efficacy in mammalian cell lines, using a wide variety of molecular cloning techniques. Shivni joined the DNA Replication Group in April 2022 and is focusing on investigating the factors involved in regulating the interaction between HP1 and chromatin in vitro.
Jie Ting Tay
MRes Student, 2019
Jie Ting is from Singapore and is pursuing her tertiary education in the United Kingdom. She obtained her BSc in Biomedical Science from King’s College London in 2018, exploring the clinical effects of ultraviolet radiation on skin for her thesis. Jie Ting joined the DNA Replication Group in March 2019 as an MRes student at Imperial College London, having previously completed a study on the DNA replication fork velocity in cells employing the alternative lengthening of telomeres mechanism.
Megan Turner
MRes Student, 2019
Meg is from the picturesque small town of Ludlow, in the Shropshire, England countryside. She obtained her BSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Reading, where she worked on the molecular signalling and localisation of a mutated neurokinin-1 receptor. Meg joined the DNA Replication Group in February 2019 as an MSc student in Molecular Medicine at Imperial College London. Outside of the lab, Meg enjoys exercising her passion for the arts by sketching, painting and visiting art galleries.
Adrian Söderholm
MRes Student, 2018 – 2019
Adrian grew up in Viby, Sweden, a village near Stockholm. He completed his BSc in Biomedicine at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, undertaking his research work for his thesis, on elucidating mechanisms involved in a novel late-stage phagolysosome process (termed eructocytosis), at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Canada. Adrian joined the DNA Replication Group in October 2018 as a MRes student in Biomedical Research at Imperial College London. In his spare time, Adrian enjoys playing table tennis and other racket sports, as well as reading.
Leonhard Karl
MSc Student, 2017
Leonhard was born in Munich, Germany. He obtained both his BSc and MSc in Biology at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich. As an MSc student, Leonhard did a six month internship in the Protein Sciences Department at the MorphoSys AG in Martinsried, Germany, and a three month internship at the Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology of the German Army in Neuherberg, working on the implementation of iPS cells. He joined the DNA Replication Group in March 2017 as an MSc student, and using genetic, biochemical and electron microscopy approaches, is examining the role of MCM2-7 in genome stability. Leonhard enjoys cooking, photography, travelling and trying new things.
Claire Rousseau
MSc Summer Student Intern, 2017
Claire was born in France. She obtained her BSc from the University of Strasbourg, France, having done the third year of her degree as an exchange student at Imperial College London. Claire is currently an MSc student in Molecular Biology and Genetics at the University of Strasbourg, and in June 2017 she joined the DNA Replication Group as a summer student intern. Claire enjoys rock climbing, painting and travelling around the world.
Henry Gerdes
MSc Student, 2016
Henry was born in London, England. He obtained his BSc in Healthcare Sciences in 2014 from the University of Nottingham. He was then awarded a Dean’s Masters scholarship by the Imperial College London Faculty of Medicine and joined the DNA Replication Group in January 2016 to undertake his MSc research project on the mechanisms of chromatin formation by Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1). Henry enjoys doing sports and playing the guitar.
Alice Rödel
MSc Summer Student Intern, 2013 – 2014
Alice is an MSc student in Biotechnology at Beuth Hochschule für Technik Berlin, Germany and joined the DNA Replication Group in October 2013 on a four month summer internship to gain laboratory practical experience and work on heterochromatin formation and DNA replication in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Emanuela Gardenal
Postgraduate Student Intern, 2011 – 2012
Emanuela was born in Treviso, Italy. She obtained her BSc and MSc in Medical Biotechnology from the University of Trieste, Italy and undertook her MSc thesis project in the Genome Stability Group at the ICGEB, Trieste. She joined the DNA Replication Group in September 2011 to obtain practical experience in DNA replication techniques. Emanuela enjoys travelling, cooking and hiking.
Group publications
Nancy Stanslowsky
MSc Summer Student Intern, 2009
Nancy is an MSc student in Biotechnology at Beuth Hochschule für Technik Berlin, Germany and joined the DNA Replication Group in April 2009 on a four month summer internship to gain laboratory practical experience and work on DNA binding behaviour and helicase assays.
Anne-Susann Musahl
MSc Erasmus Student Intern, 2009
Anne-Susann is an MSc student in Biology at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany and joined the DNA Replication Group in April 2009 on a three month Erasmus student internship to gain practical experience in biochemical methods and study the initiation of DNA replication in eukaryotes.
Simone Alves
MRes Student, 2007 – 2008
Simone was born in London, England. She obtained her BSc in Genetics in 2006 from The University of Manchester and joined the DNA Replication Group in June 2007 as an MRes student. In her spare time, Simone enjoys travelling, reading and running.
Ki Him Nicholas Chiang
BSc Summer Student Intern, 2021
Nick is a biotechnology undergraduate at Imperial College London. He grew up in Hong Kong and has lived in New York. Nick joined the DNA Replication Group as a summer intern in August 2021, working with Jessica Ellins to use cryoEM to study the effect of DNA methylation on chromatin structure. In his free time, Nick enjoys bouldering, ice hockey, and photography.
Joseph Dobbs
Undergraduate Student Intern, 2019
Joseph was born in British Columbia, Canada, where he is doing his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Victoria. He has previously worked in labs that specialise in mass spectrometry and yeast epigenetics, and joined the DNA Replication Group in September 2019 as an intern to gain experience in structural biology and cryo-electron microscopy. Joseph enjoys sports, exploring and the outdoors.
Greta Baltušytė
Undergraduate Student Intern, 2019
Greta was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and is particularly interested in biochemistry and pharmacology. She joined the DNA replication group in August 2019 as an intern to investigate helicase activation complexes. Outside of the lab, Greta enjoys watching films, jogging and reading.
Halil Bounoua
Undergraduate Student Intern, 2019
Halil is from Corbeil-Essonnes, a city near Paris, France. He studies biology at ENS Lyon, France, and is particularly interested in biochemistry and structural biology, with the long-term goal to teach biochemistry and biotechnology in high school or college. Halil joined the DNA Replication Group in May 2019 as an undergraduate intern. In his free time, Halil likes spending time with family and friends, running along the Seine in Paris, cooking and discovering new tastes.
Anja Schlott
Undergraduate Part-time Student Intern, 2010 – 2013
Anja was born in Hamburg, Germany. She is a BSc student in Biology at the Royal Holloway, University of London and joined the DNA Replication Group in November 2010 for a part-time internship to work on cloning, expression and purification of human MCM2-7.
Christian Winkler
Undergraduate Student Intern, 2011 – 2012
Christian was born in Berlin, Germany. He is a BSc student in Biotechnology at the Beuth Hochschule für Technik Berlin. During his studies, Christian worked in pharmacology and oncology at the Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin, Berlin-Buch. He joined the DNA Replication Group in September 2011 to work on his bachelor thesis on mechanisms of MCM2-7 helicase loading onto DNA. In his leisure time, Christian enjoys sports, travelling and spending time with his friends.
Group publications
Audrey Mossler
Research Technician, 2019 – 2022
Audrey was born in Saverne, France, a small town near Strasbourg. She obtained her Higher National Diploma, entitled “Bioanalysis and Controls,” in 2016 and then worked as a research technician at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC), Strasbourg. In January 2019, Audrey joined the DNA Replication Group for work experience in a UK laboratory and was retained as a research technician. In her free time, Audrey enjoys playing basketball, travelling and discovering London.
Indiana Magdalou
Research Technician, 2015 – 2021
Indiana was born in Pontoise, France, a small town near Paris. She obtained her PhD in 2014 from the University of Paris XI, France for her work on the post-replicative responses to endogenous or low replication stress in mammalian cells. She joined the DNA Replication Group in November 2015 as a research technician. In her spare time, Indiana enjoys reading, roller skating, photography, playing the saxophone and walking along the Thames.
Group publications