Team

Enzyme replacement therapies manufacturing in P. pastoris

I am a postdoctoral research associate in the Stracquadanio lab, working on developing a high-throughput screening method for AI-generated variants of alpha-galactosidases in yeast Komagataella phaffii. I obtained my BSc in biological sciences from the University of Sassari, followed by an Erasmus internship at the biophysics lab of the University of York. I then spent four years working on my PhD in Prof. Gideon Grogan laboratory at YSBL of the University of York, where I gained my expertise in working with yeasts and with high-throughput directed evolution methodologies. In my spare time I enjoy reading, socializing with friends, hiking and travelling.

Enzyme replacement therapies manufacturing in CHO

I am a postdoctoral research associate working on screening internally developed AI-engineered enzyme variants expressed by CHO cells. My current focus is on the Intelligent Deimmunization of Enzyme Replacement Therapies (IDERT) project, with the goal of spearheading a new era in enzyme replacement therapies designed for lifelong treatment. This ground-breaking approach aims to address the challenges faced by patients who currently lack viable treatment options due to strong immune response. Prior to this, I secured an FWO PhD fellowship, enabling me to study the potential of lactoferrin variants to prevent ETEC-induced diarrhoea in postweaning pig and I obtained my PhD degree in Veterinary medicine at Ghent University in 2023. Beyond the lab, I find joy in playing tennis, leisurely walks in nature and I am also a cinephile at heart.

Enzyme replacement therapies manufacturing in P. pastoris

I am a Research Technologist joining the wet lab to work towards screening protein variants for use in enzyme replacement therapies. I have worked at the University of Edinburgh since 2016, I enjoy the vibrant Engineering Biology community and working on a range of projects that include cloning and engineering proteins. I have a keen interest in how research can be transformed into real world impact through commercialisation. I continue to hone my entrepreneurial skills and I hope to put these to use in the Stracquadanio group. In my spare time I enjoy exploring the areas around Edinburgh, learning new crafts, and relaxing with our tabby cat Murray.

Deep learning and biophysical modelling for protein engineering

I am a postdoctoral research associate in the Stracquadanio Lab, working on machine learning approaches to engineer enzyme-replacement therapies to treat Fabry Disease, as part of the Generative Recombinant Enzyme Engineering for Therapeutics (GREET) project. I obtained my BSc in Physics with Astrophysics from Northumbria University, followed by completing my PhD in Theoretical Chemistry from Newcastle University in 2021. I spent two years as a Research Fellow in Dr Simone Meloni Laboratory of Materials Modeling and Simulations (LMMS) at the University of Ferrara as part of the H2020 Electro-Intrusion project, studying the underlying mechanisms of nanotriboelectrification to develop energy-recovering shock absorbers. My passions outside of work are learning languages, running, travelling and following Sunderland AFC.

Engineering Landing pad for stable heterologous protein expression in P. pastoris.

I am PhD student of the UKRI EastBio CDT.

Engineering CHO Cell Lines with Optimized Tagging Mechanismsto Improve Enzyme Replacement Therapies

I am a PhD student focused on developing novel delivery strategies to enhance the efficacy of protein therapeutics, with a strong interest in advancements in clinical research. Prior to this, I obtained a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. In my free time, I enjoy cooking, hiking, traveling, and live music.

Structural diffusion models for protein engineering

I am PhD student of the UKRI AI CDT for Biomedical Innovation.

Transparent deep learning for protein engineering

I am a PhD student working on transparent deep learning for protein engineering. I am very interested in bioinformatics, particularly in using artificial intelligence in clinical research. I have also participated in a EuCanImage project - a European cancer imaging platform for AI in oncology. In my free time I enjoy reading and painting.

Deep learning models for codon optimisation

I am a PhD student on the EASTBIO DTP, funded jointly by BBSRC and Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies. I research codon optimisation for heterologous protein expression using machine learning and NLP techniques. Broadly speaking, I am trying to teach computers to understand the language of biological sequences. Prior to this, I completed my BSc in Molecular Biology at UCL, worked as a policy officer on climate change at BEIS, and then completed my Bioinformatics MSc at QMUL. When I am not doing science, I love to star-gaze, hike, write songs and illustrate. My science communication heroes are Jacob Bronowski, Carl Sagan and Kurzgesagt.

Engineering synthetic chromosomes to reveal principles of genome inheritance in S. cerevisiae

I am a Darwin Trust PhD student at the Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, Adele Marston Lab. My project focuses on engineering synthetic chromosomes to reveal principles of genome inheritance in S. cerevisiae. Before this, I earned my BSc in Biological Sciences and MSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Brasilia, Brazil. During my master's program, I developed software to identify Genomic Safe Harbors in eukaryotes and validated them in yeast. In my free time, I enjoy watching movies, meditating, and cooking.

Graph neural networks for tumour progression from single-cell RNA sequencing

I am a UKRI-funded PhD student in the Biomedical AI CDT programme. My project focuses on developing graph neural networks to model tumor progression in cancer using single-cell RNA sequencing data. Prior to this, I obtained a BSc in molecular bionics engineering followed by a MSc in info-bionics engineering at the PPCU in Budapest. During my master's, I spent a year at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munich as a guest researcher at the Institute of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology. I worked for 5 years at a pharmaceutical startup, Turbine.AI, first as a computational biologist, and then as the data team lead. In 2021 I started the CDT in Biomedical AI and obtained a MScR in Biomedical AI at the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. In my free time, I enjoy riding my bike, running, and going to concerts.

Facility Manager

Edinburgh Genome Foundry, Manager

Computational Biologist

Edinburgh Genome Foundry, Manager