Meet The Team

Bio: I currently work on developing novel techniques to image aggregates in cells and tissues. I have previously used single-molecule TIRF and confocal microscopes in my PhD research (University of St Andrews) and postdoc projects (University of Glasgow and NYU School of Medicine), and I am now in the process of building a new light sheet microscope here in the Ye Group at the UK DRI at Imperial.

Bio: I was a PhD student at the UK Dementia Research Institute investigating the role of post-translational modifications of amyloid proteins in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Prior to starting my PhD, I completed my BSc in Biochemistry at KCL, MRes at Imperial College London, and worked as a research technician in the Ultanir Lab at The Francis Crick Institute.

Bio: I was a PhD student in Laura Parkkinen's lab leading a project to characterise different alpha-synucleinopathies using "seed amplification assay" and mass spectrometry. I now aspire to further include tauopathies in my portfolio of molecular characterisation, determining the specific profiles of protein aggregates using advanced biophysical and biochemical methods in the Ye lab. I am excited to return to London and my alma mater to further build my career and progress!

Bio: I was a PhD student in Tony Schapira’s lab studying the molecular and cellular interactions between LRRK2 and GBA1 in Parkinson’s disease using iPSC and mouse models. I have now returned to Imperial to start a collaborative project with Eisai, focusing on targeting proteostasis systems in synucleinopathy models with an emphasis on multidisciplinary translational research.

Bio: I was a PhD student in Angela Hodges’s lab funded by the MRC-DTP to study Alzheimer’s risk gene TREM2 in microglia. During this time, I generated CRISPR-edited iPSC KO cell lines in which I developed and optimised assays investigating phagocytosis, lipid droplets and cellular metabolism. In the Ye lab, I will study how proteasomes clear tau aggregates in model neurons.

Bio: I did my undergraduate at Edinbrugh and just completed a MSc in Immunology here at Imperial. I am currently supporting various projects using IPSC-neurons as tauopathy and synucleinopathy models to study the build-up and clearance of protein aggregates.

Bio:Matilda, or Mattie, is funded by the prestigous President's PhD Scholarship, awarded whilst she was finishing her BSc degree. Mattie's project in the lab is to study the role of immunoprotasomes in tauopathies. Prior to starting her PhD, Mattie did research in the Ye lab as a UROP student to develop cell lines for protein aggregation assays.

Bio:I am completing the first year of my PhD journey in the Ye lab, working on a collaborative project to validate a potential drug target in Parkinson's disease cell models. This project is funded by Parkinson's UK. Before my PhD, I earned my master's in Translational Neuroscience at Imperial College London and worked as a research technician in the UK Dementia Research Institute for a year.

Bio:After completing my BSc in Chemistry at Imperial College London, I am now pursuing my MRes in Drug Discovery and Development at Imperial. My research project at the Ye Lab studies the ubiquitin-proteosome and autophagy pathways in the clearance of brain-derived toxic protein aggregates in neuroblastoma cells.

Bio:After completing my undergraduate Liverpool, I choose to continue pursuing MRes in Biomedical Research at imperial. Now I'm in my second rotation at Ye lab to investigate how pathological aggregates may be taken up and spread between different cells.