Current Final Years
Current Third Years
Current Second Years
Current First Years
Current Final Years
Sioned Heal
Standard studentship with associate partner: In collaboration with Bristol + University of the West of England (UWE)
Sioned graduated from the University of Bristol in 2020 with an Msci in Biochemistry. Her final year project was spent in Jeremy Henley’s lab studying the role of sentrin specific proteases (SENPs) in regulating the SUMOylation status of known SUMO targets, specifically the Rho GDP-dissociation inhibitor (RhoGDI).
Sioned will continue pursuing this area of interest by undergoing a PhD project in Bristol under the supervision of Prof Jeremy Henley focusing on the regulation of neuronal energy production by SUMOylation. Here, the SUMOylation status of mitochondrial proteins will be studied and associated with changes in neuronal metabolism. Part of the project will be undertaken in UWE under the supervision of Dr Tim Craig, where the Seahorse XFe24 will be used to measure key metabolic parameters and determine how changes in protein SUMOylation may affect metabolism.
Asheesh Sharma
Standard studentship with associate partner: In collaboration with University of the West of England (UWE) + Bristol
(he/him)
Asheesh graduated from the University of Bristol and University of West of England in 2016 with an MSc in Robotics. During his research project, he developed a swarm of physically connected agents and studied their use as constituents in free form soft-actuators, where their properties allow different swarm behaviour to emerge, leading to a specific morphology.
His PhD is based at the University of Bristol and the University of West of England. The project investigates the use of 3D camera systems to assess the body conditioning and behaviour of cattle. The project is supervised by Dr Andrew Dowsey (UOB), Dr Tilo Burghardt (UOB), Dr Melvyn Smith (UWE), and Dr Mark Hansen (UWE).
Current Third Years
David Alliband
Standard studentship with associate partner: In collaboration with University of Bristol + University of the West of England (UWE)
(he/him)
David earned his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science from the University of Worcester in 2021. His research project focussed on the relationship between blood fatty acid content and cognition under the supervision of Dr Allain Bueno. He then investigated infection-induced neurodegeneration and action selection in Drosophila during his MRes at the University of Birmingham in 2022, supervised by Prof Alicia Hidalgo and Assoc Prof Carolina Rezaval.
David’s PhD project is supervised by Prof Jon Lane and Dr Lucy Crompton investigating autophagy control of human neuroinflammatory signalling using hiPSC-derived astrocytes, microglia, and neurons in 2D and 3D co-cultures.
Tom Gerrard
Standard studentship with associate partner: In collaboration with University of Bristol + University of the West of England (UWE)
After graduating from University of Bristol with a BSc Biology, Tom completed a master’s by research degree in biological sciences. His research master’s focussed on the development of single nucleotide polymorphism marker panels which would allow rapid genotyping of unknown pathogenic bacteria.
His PhD project is supervised by Dr Darryl Hill from Bristol and Dr Lynne Lawrance from UWE. Tom aims to use his background in bioinformatics to look into the population biology of Moraxella catarrhalis and to provide insight into the pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance of these opportunistic bacteria.
Anusha Mohankumar
CASE studentship led by Rothamsted Research
(she/her)
Anusha graduated with a BSc Agriculture Sciences from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, in 2018 and an MSc Entomology from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal in 2020. Her research focused on understanding the population dynamics of arthropods in the cabbage ecosystem. Post studies, she worked as a junior researcher at Tranalab Pvt Ltd, where she gained experience in molecular cloning, plant transformation and tissue culture.
Her research experience and passion for helping the agricultural society motivated her to undertake the PhD under the Syngenta CASE Project, which aims to identify semiochemicals in soil. The semiochemical blends identified through the project act in a non-toxic mode of action and can provide an environmentally benign alternative for the management of wireworms. This project is supervised by Dr Jozsef Vuts (Rothamsted Research), Dr Pete Maxfield (the University of the West of England) and Dr Benedikt Kurtz (Syngenta).
Current Second Years
Selina Diether
Standard studentship with associate partner: In collaboration with University of Bristol + University of the West of England (UWE)
Selina successfully completed her Biomedical Science undergraduate degree and Master in Research at UWE Bristol. During her degrees and work as a research technician in the Greenhough Lab she has been researching hypoxia (oxygen deprivation) induced signalling mechanisms and metabolism in pancreatic cancer. Throughout her research experience she developed a keen interest in how cells sense and respond to changes in their microenvironment which motivated her to pursue a PhD.
Selina´s project, supervised by Professor Anne Ridley (UOB) and Dr. Alexander Greenhough (UWE), focuses on elucidating the role of receptor-mediated mechanical sensing and signalling during intestinal homeostasis and epithelial barrier function in response to biophysical stress using 3D organoid culture and 2D mechanonsensing models.
Lisa Moiseienko
Standard studentship with associate partner: In collaboration with University of Bristol + University of the West of England (UWE)
Lisa graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in 2022 with a Master’s in Biology and the qualification of a Junior Researcher, specializing in Microbiology. Her graduation project was focused on investigating the probiotic properties of lactic acid bacteria and was titled ‘Screening of Lactic Acid Bacterial Strains for the Further Fermentation of Plant Juices.’ During the past year, Lisa worked as a Research Technician at the University of Bristol, where her research interests shifted towards antibiotic-resistant bacteria, particularly resistant E. coli isolated from farm animals and human samples.
The aim of Lisa’s PhD project is to investigate the mechanism of action of novel technology as cold atmospheric plasma and its effects on cells of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The project is supervised by Prof Matthew Avison at the University of Bristol and Dr Alexandros Stratakos from the University of the West of England.
Current First Years
Phos Hayes
Standard studentship with associate partner: In collaboration with University of the West of England (UWE) + Cardiff University
(they/them)
Phos graduated from Cardiff University as a Master of Biomedical Sciences in 2024, following four years of an integrated master’s degree. During their research project, they investigated Listeria monocytogenes soil persistence and its colonisation of spinach under the supervision of Dr Cedric Berger. Phos’ interest in microbial interactions associated with plants heightened during their time at Cardiff. Prior to starting university, they worked part-time as a laboratory technician.
Phos’ PhD is supervised by Dr Sarah Christofides, Dr Carrie Brady, Professor Lynne Boddy, and Dr Robin Thorn. Their project aims to investigate Fungal-Bacterial interactions within broadleaf trees affected by wetwood, providing insight on its management.
Florrie Newman
Standard studentship with associate partner: In collaboration with Bristol + University of the West of England (UWE)
Florrie graduated from the University of Bath in 2024 with a BSc in Natural Sciences (Biology with Pharmacology). This included a placement year in the Early Oncology Bioscience department at AstraZeneca in Cambridge, working on the development of a mass spectrometry-based assay as part of a team aiming to improve the action of PARPi. She then went on to complete a final year project centred around the culture and characterisation of pancreatic organoids.
Having had a keen interest in neuroscience and cellular biology throughout her degree, Florrie is undertaking a PhD project with Dr Kevin Wilkinson (Bristol) and Dr Tim Craig (UWE) titled “Investigating the role of neuronal metabolism in excitation/inhibition balance”. This will use biochemical, molecular and proteomic techniques to explore the effects of dietary factors and neuronal metabolism on synaptic function, an area which is currently not well understood.