Co-workers 2005
Andreas Sonnen
After completing my undergraduate education in Germany, I decided it would be a good opportunity to leave Germany and do my D.Phil. in a foreign country. Eventually I landed in Oxford, enrolling in a 4-year programme in Structural Biology. In my first year I have to complete two five month research projects. After working on cryo-EM reconstructions of the 40S eukaryotic ribosome in the group of Robert Gilbert (Division of Structural Biology), I transferred to the T-cell biology group in April. I am currently trying to express and crystallize the extracellular domain of CTLA-4; an inhibitory receptor on the T-cell surface. This project is in close collaboration with Chao Yu, who is supporting me a great deal. When I am not in the lab, you will probably find me either in the pool, on the running track or enjoying my social life with friends.
Chao Yu
I am from the south part of China and completed my Masters degree study at the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science in 1999. Then I joined the group supervised by Prof. Gunter Fishcer in the Max-Planck Research Unit on the Enzymology of Protein Folding in Germany to continue my PhD studies. My PhD research was focussed on the study of protein-protein interactions based on matrix-bound peptide arrays, and the study of catalysis of the peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerization of fluoroproline containing protein and peptide substrates by PPIases.
I started my post-doctoral position in the T-cell biology group in Oxford immediately after finishing my PhD study in 2003. Therefore, I now have a good opportunity to pursue my scientific interests in protein-protein interactions, mainly focusing on T-cell surface proteins which is an exciting and challenging field. My study of the interactions between T-cell surface proteins is mainly based on structural methods.
Edward Evans
I co-manage the T-cell biology group as well as continuing my own projects. For more details please go to my page.
Emma James
After completing A Levels at Ysgol Gyfun Tasker Milward, Pembrokeshire, I went on to the University of Wales, Aberystwyth where I achieved a first class honours degree in Biochemistry and Genetics. I came to Oxford in 2000 where I explored the role of polymorphisms in the new members of the CD28 and B7 families (ICOS, LICOS, PD-1, B7-H1 and B7-DC) in the pathogenesis of asthma, in an extensive collaboration with Professor William Cookson at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics. This work indicates an important role for the PD-1 pathway in asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Following completion of my DPhil, I intend to continue into full-time post-doctoral research at the University of Wales College of Medicine.
Heather Walsh
After completing A-levels in my home town Burnley, in Lancashire, I came to Oxford to do a degree in biochemistry at St Hildas college. During the final year of my degree I specialized in glycobiology and human disease, and completed a project which focussed on the relationship between P-glycoprotein, lipid raft composition and multidrug resistance in cancer. I also developed a keen interest in immunology.
I joined the T-cell biology group in July 2003, a mere three weeks after my final examination. My projects involve cloning, expressing and purifying CD28 and its family members for crystallography and binding studies. In my spare time I enjoying water colour painting, taking my inspiration from Oxford's beautiful architecture.
Hussain Abidi
I grew up in Pakistan and did my Master’s degree at the University of Karachi, majoring in Microbiology. I then had an opportunity to join Qasim Mehdi`s laboratory in Islamabad where I learnt linkage analysis using microsatellite markers and SNP analysis on a pedigree of diseased and normal individuals. During my training I realised the importance of functional genetics and the need to address the overall transcriptional complexity of 'faulty' genes in a disease condition.
In 2002 after meeting with a handful of principal investigators I decided to join the T-cell biology group at the University of Oxford as a D.Phil student. Here I started working on signal transduction pathways induced in CTLs via CD8 antibody cross-linking by using the global gene expression analysis method, SAGE (serial analysis of gene expression). Parallel to this I am working on identifying the antiviral factor(s) secreted by CTLs due to transcriptional remodelling in response to extrinsic factors, such as CD8 cross-linking.
Jan Fennelly
I trained in medical laboratory sciences in Newcastle prior to entering research working on cell surface receptors. Later I decided that a change was in order and moved to Oxford to work on OX40 and CD4 in Neil Barclay’s lab at the Dunn School. Then followed a brief departure back north to Manchester where I worked in Mike Dexter’s lab and completed a part-time BSc in applied biological sciences.
I have now worked in the T-cell biology group for seven years, taking part in many projects, including the expression and purification of B7 and related co-stimulatory proteins. More recently my main focus has been on RACE of new CD2 family members and GLGI of novel genes identified in the lab during SAGE analysis.
In my spare time I enjoy growing vegetables on my allotment and creating stained glass windows.
John James
Having spent four years at Oxford doing an M.Biochem, I couldn’t escape the bubble and decided to spend (at least) another three years here doing a DPhil in the Nuffield Dept Medicine. I had previously done a summer project in the T-cell biology group and, after some very persuasive coaxing by Simon I returned to the group in October 2002, on a Wellcome Prize Studentship. Prior to this I had done a summer project in Microbiology with Prof Judy Armitage and my part II project in Groningen, The Netherlands.
I moved to Linacre college from Merton so I could have something resembling a social life and the move has paid off well, enjoying the last years of tax-free earnings in style. All going well with the rest of my doctoral work I’d like to continue research as a post-doc, preferably somewhere sunny.
My work in the T-cell biology group focuses on the global organisation of molecules at the T-cell surface and how they function as a cohesive system. I get to do “sexy” single molecule microscopy and other cell biology techniques such as bioluminescence resonance energy transfer, or BRET (not quite as sexy).
Lawrence Hene
Having enjoyed four years in Oxford obtaining an M.Biochem, I was delighted to start a DPhil in 2001 in the T-cell biology group. The majority of my time in the lab is spent analysing SAGE data.
Mai Vuong
After completing my BSc Biochemistry degree from Kingston University, I went on to do a Masters in Biochemical Engineering at University College London. This course gave me an insight into how successful laboratory results can be scaled-up to industrial scale production from the engineering and business point of view. However, having spent a couple of years in this field, I decided that academic research on the mini bench scale was the life for me.
I joined the T-cell biology group in October 2000 and have since been involved in a wide range of projects including cloning the genes of 11 members of the CD2 family, creating host cell lines geared towards structural genomics and making Long SAGE cDNA libraries.
In addition to my many changing interests outside of work, I have recently devoted the other half of my life to the Luk Chi Fu martial arts association (www.lukchifu.co.uk) and have performed lion dancing for various associations around Britain. This is all for fitness purposes of course.
Matthew Mair
I did not have far to travel to the lab, having grown up in Weston on the Green, outside Oxford. As yet I have no qualifications to my name, being a student at Magdalen College School. However, I was delighted to be able to spend my work experience in Professor Davis' lab, having only previously known him as village Duckmeister! During my week in the lab, I worked on a mutational analysis of the organizational properties of the T cell receptor. I really enjoyed the week, due to the friendliness of Simon and his team, and have a much clearer idea of how science is applied day to day.
Sara Morgan
A native of Wiltshire, I headed to Wales for university and studied at Cardiff University, gaining a B.Sc (Hons) in Applied Biology. As part of my 4 year course I spent a year working at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories in Salisbury. During this time I worked in Virology, specifically with Vaccinia looking at subunit orthopox vaccines.
Having completed my studies, I decided I wanted to continue the student lifestyle, and started a D.Phil in the T-cell biology group, indulging my interests in cellular signalling and immunology. My project looks at the interactions of superagonistic antibodies with some of the CD28 family of T cell surface molecules, which are involved in T cell activation.
When not in the lab you can find me at the cinema, playing sport and socialising with friends. I am also making a bid for fame in the campaign for equal opportunities for women in science - click here to see more!
Srinika Ranasinghe
After completing my A-levels at my local sixth form college in South west London, I began a broad spectrum Biological Sciences degree at St. Hilda's College, University of Oxford in 2000. During my 3 years as an undergraduate student I learnt bits of everything; from lectures on malaria control in the 1960s to Arabidopsis plant genetics, and I even spent a whole summer visually recording the sexual mating behaviour of wild guppies!
Upon graduation I then worked as a research assistant for 9 months under the supervision of Dr Greg Towers and Prof Robin Weiss at the Wohl Virion Centre, Windeyer Building, UCL. Our group focused on the characterisation of TRIM5α, an intracellular anti-retroviral factor found in humans and monkeys that is able to block infection by both lentiviruses (e.g HIV & SIV) and gamma retroviruses.
Then in October 2004 I was delighted to start an ambitious 4 year D.Phil. in the T-cell Biology Group, as part of an ongoing collaboration between Prof Simon Davis, another student Hussain Abidi, Dr Tao Dong, Prof Sarah Rowland Jones and Prof Andrew McMichael. My D.Phil. project aims to identify CD8+ T cell Antiviral Factor (CAF) or CAF-like proteins that are secreted by CD8+ T cells cross-linked by anti-CD8 antibody.
CAF is a soluble protein expressed at very low levels that is released by CD8+ T-lymphocytes (CTL) resulting in the suppression of HIV replication in infected CD4+ cells, in the absence of CTL induced cell death. CAF is able to inhibit all strains of HIV-1 and HIV-2 tested, and has strong clinical relevance because it has strong activity in healthy HIV-infected individuals, whilst it is not commonly detected in those that have progressed to AIDS. However, despite numerous attempts, the molecular identity of 'CAF' has remained a mystery for almost two decades and thus it is often referred to as 'The Holy Grail for AIDS researchers'.
Veronica Chang
I obtained a D. Phil from Oxford University in 2003. I had been studying the biology of foraminifera since I was an undergraduate. Foraminifera is a marine single-cell protist, and has a very distinct phenomenon in its cellular biology – the cell engulfs seawater as vacuoles into the cytoplasm, and then molecular-mediated crystallisation takes place in these vacuoles to form their new CaCO3 shells. Foraminifera shells are the most important biological materials in the Earth Sciences since the composition of their CaCO3 skeletons has provided us with information about the history of ocean circulation and climate change. Thanks to its interesting process of seawater vacuolisation, foraminifera is also a very promising research model for studying the transportation of Mg and Ca from seawater into their shells.
It might seem odd that someone with my experiences would be interested in a post in molecular immunology, but in a rather convoluted way, this seems to be a right path. My previous work can be divided into three parts: (1) foraminifera cell biology and ecology, (2) the regulation of trace elements, and (3) the biomineralisation of foraminifera. In 1992, I started to work on foraminifera biology at Taiwan University under the supervision of Professor C.-Y. Huang. My primary responsibility was to identify foraminifera species and to correlate their assemblage changes to the environments. The Cd2+ caught my interest, and I had the good fortune of being co-supervised by Professor S.-C. Pai, an expert on analytical chemistry.
In 1998, I came under the tutelage of Professor Sir R. Keith O’Nions at Oxford. I initiated an unprecedented approach – using Mg and Ca stable isotopes – to study an extremely exciting subject, the biomineralisation of foraminifera. The lack of any research techniques available for such a study meant that the first challenge was - to design new chromatography and mass spectrometry techniques to purify samples for high precision measurement, using MC-ICPMS (multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry). These techniques enabled me to report the first ever Mg isotope composition of biological samples. However, these techniques can be applied to fields beyond that of biogeochemistry: among other things, they can shed light on the diet changes in archaeological studies by analysing the Ca and Mg isotopes of teeth and bone remains. These techniques have been published in J. Anal. At. Spectrom. 18 (2003) 296-301. The second part of my thesis work was to apply the techniques to study biomineralisation. I analysed natural foraminifera samples, seawater and laboratory crystallised samples, and discovered to my delight that the combination of Mg and Ca isotopes constitutes a powerful new tool to distinguish the different mechanisms in which Mg and Ca are involved in cell biology. A paper based on these results was submitted to Science and went on review. Although it was finally thought by the reviewers that yet more evidence should have been marshalled, the experience was nonetheless an encouragement for me and I obtained a much better appreciation of the rigorous standard of first-class science.
During my study of foraminifera, the process of seawater vacuolisation was what most caught my attention. The seawater vacuolisation of foraminifera occurs periodically during its life cycle and is believed to be triggered by cell stress, which may be similar to the initiation of phagocytosis. As I learned the phagocytosis of lymphocyte is not only through pinocytosis but also by opsonisation, I became very interested. What is more exciting is the phagocyte can present the digested antigen on its cell surface to bind T-cell receptor to trigger cell-mediated immunity. Up to this point, I have been completely attracted by such a fascinating recognition and communication network and came to an understanding that to do lymphocyte cell surface biology research is a wise long term career strategy.
I joined the T-cell biology group in July 2003. Although at this point, I have yet to learn all the biochemistry techniques and related knowledge, the group has been very helpful and I am a quick learner and very keen on exploring new disciplines. Versatile methodologies have been carried out in this lab, and among other things, I am eager to see the if my previous research experiences on isotopes, chromatography and MS might one day have an impact on protein structure analysis and T-cell biology.