Lab Members
|
Helena is a Group Head at the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS), and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London. She received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge in 2006, at the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit in the group of Prof. Mike Murphy, where she developed an interest in mitochondrial oxidative stress and redox biology. She started working with Drosophila in 2007 as a post-doc at the Institute of Healthy Ageing, UCL in the laboratory of Prof. Linda Partridge. She established her own group at the LMS in 2013, and was promoted to Programme Leader Track in 2018.
|
|
Andrea graduated with a BA in Natural Sciences specialising in Genetics at Trinity College Dublin in her native Ireland. She then completed a Masters in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Ulster, before moving to London to work as a research technician at University College London. She has been working in the field of Drosophila ageing and metabolism ever since, and joined the Cochemé Lab in 2014.
|
|
Claudia is from Germany and did her PhD studies in Biochemistry at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in the group of Prof. Barbara Seliger, where she developed an interest in redox signalling, exploring the effects of selenocompounds on cellular redox state and how tumours escape from immune surveillance. As part of her PhD studies, she moved to the US for 8 months to work at the Georgia Cancer Center in the group of Dr Samir Khleif. Claudia joined the Cochemé Lab as an MRC Postdoctoral Research Scientist in 2018, and is investigating the redox regulation of metabolic signalling pathways in Drosophila.
|
|
Maria obtained her PhD in Bioengineering Sciences from VIB-VUB, Belgium, with Prof. Joris Messens, where she focused on deciphering the role of antioxidant enzymes. She also performed structural-functional characterisation of a genetically encoded hypochlorite biosensor. Fascinated by the world of redox biology, she continued her scientific journey as a postdoc with Prof. Ivan Gout at UCL from 2020, working on coenzyme A-mediated protein regulation. Maria joined the Cochemé lab as as Postdoctoral Research Associate in July 2023 to explore the redox regulation of proteins in human pathologies.
|
|
Nsikan completed his BSc Biomedical Science and MSc Cancer Biology at the University of Kent, where he investigated resistance of NSCLC cells to platinum-based chemotherapeutic agents. He then joined Dr Claudia Barros’ team at the University of Plymouth as a Research Assistant, and soon after undertook a PhD, researching genes and mechanisms implicated in the initiation and development of glioblastomas and low-grade gliomas. Nsikan joined the LMS in April 2023 as a joint postdoc between the Cochemé and Hirabayashi labs, where his work focuses on the interplay between diet and colorectal cancer.
|
|
Eliano comes from Portugal, where he completed his Medical Degree at the New University of Lisbon. Aspiring to become a biogerontologist, he gained laboratory experience during his MD training, most notably working as a volunteer researcher in the group of Dr Silvia Conde at the Chronic Diseases Research Center, where he studied morphological changes in the carotid body with ageing and insulin resistance. Eliano joined the Cochemé Lab as a PhD student in 2018 to study acid-base balance in diet-induced metabolic disease and ageing. He passed his viva in 2023, and is currently working on revisions.
|
|
Paul is an academic clinical fellow training in hepatology. He graduated with a MBChB from the University of Dundee in 2014, and subsequently moved to London to begin clinical training with the aim of developing a career as an academic clinician. His research interests include mitochondria in liver disease and immunometabolism. Paul joined the Cochemé lab in 2020 as a Chain Florey Clinical Research Fellow, and is investigating mitochondrial dysfunction in alcohol hepatitis for his PhD. He is co-supervised with Prof. Mark Thursz, from the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction at Imperial College.
|
Alumni
- Rugile Januskeviciute (MRes Student)
- Alec Vincent (PhD Student): Institute of Healthy Ageing, UCL
- Lucie van Leeuwen (PhD Student): Science Communications Officer, UMC Utrecht, Netherlands
- Pengyi Ding (MSc Student)
- Wan Chen (MSc Student): PhD, University of Aberdeen
- Dr Marcela Buricova (Research Assistant/Lab Manager - Maternity Cover): Research Assistant, Cardiff University
- Cassie Lee (MRes Student)
- Salih Kucuk (MSc Student): Research Assistant, Near East University Hospital, Cyprus
- Dr Fiona Leiper (Post-Doc): Senior Scientist, University of Glasgow
- Joel James (Commonwealth Scholar): PhD, VIT University, India
- Stephany Jaiquel Baron (MSc Student): PhD, University of Cambridge
- Lucy Marshall (BSc Student): PhD, King’s College London
- Emma Walmsley (BSc Student): MSc, Imperial College London
- Esther van Dam (Erasmus Scholar): MD, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam
- Henry Bickers (BSc Student): MSc, University of Oxford