Laura is a PhD student at the Gurdon Institute. She studies brain development using fruit flies and cortical organoids, which are lab-grown tissues used to model human brains.

Tom is a biologist who studies how the structure of the cell skeleton (the cytoskeleton) is controlled during development and disease. During his PhD, he studied how the parasite that causes malaria uses its cytoskeleton to move and infect human cells. In his current work, he is using frogs as a model organism to investigate how cells such as neurons develop and change shape.

Stathis is developing new machine learning techniques inspired by String Theory and mathematics to create mathematical models of the networks that are involved in gene-transcription.

Audrey is a PhD student in the Miska Lab at the Gurdon Institute. Her research aims to understand how gene regulatory mechanisms can facilitate adaptation to new environments. She is using East African cichlid fishes—known to have a diverse range of physical and behavioural characteristics despite having low levels of genetic variation–to characterise their molecular responses to altered environmental conditions across generations. Outside of the lab, she enjoys writing, scuba diving, and rowing on the Cam.

Nicola Lawrence is a light microscopy imaging scientist. With a background in biological research, she has extensive experience of the light microscopy workflow using a wide variety of different techniques. Nicola supports and trains researchers to use the light microscopes available at the Gurdon Institute.

Natalie is the Public Engagement Coordinator at the Gurdon Institute, working to bring our world-leading biological research to the public in fun and innovative ways. She works with scientists across the institute as well as artists, musicians, community groups and other professionals from across Cambridge and the UK to ensure that our research is shared as widely as possible.

Amy is a Biologist and Project Manager at the Gurdon Institute working in the Brand Lab. She came up with the idea of ‘The Great BioQuest’ during the pandemic when she was out and about exploring the local area. The trails are a COVID-safe way of communicating the institute’s research and a great opportunity to explore the local history and its impact.

Anna is a second year PhD student at the Brand lab in the Gurdon Institute. She is studying neural stem cells (cells that produce neurones) in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and is interested in the epigenetic mechanisms that dictate whether those cells divide or not.

Oriol did his PhD at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. His research at the Malaria Epigenetics Lab focused on the epigenetic regulation of sexual development in the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. In 2020, he joined the Brand Lab at the Gurdon Institute to study how neural stem cells can turn into different cell types. During his free time, he enjoys being outside practicing sports, like running, cycling, basketball or kitesurfing but also taking pictures or enjoying the company of a good book.

Inês is a PhD student at the Fernandez-Antoran Lab at the Gurdon Institute. She studies how cells that harbor cancer-driver alterations in their DNA (mutations) compete for space with non-mutated cells in healthy epithelial tissues (e.g., oral mucosa) and how this process unfolds during the early stages of cancer development. In her free time, you may find her in the swimming pool, jogging around Cambridge, cooking, or enjoying a good read.