Co-workers 2007
Amit-Kumar Singh
I am a Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Scholar, studying ‘Evolution of the biophysical parameters of molecular interactions involved in T-cell costimulation’ for my D.Phil. degree. In order to improve fundamental understanding of T-cell costimulation my current activities are focused on the unique aspects of the interactions of avian costimulatory molecules. Most of my work is done in the Institute of Animal Health, Compton, in the laboratory of my co-supervisor John Young. I completed my B.Sc. and M.Sc. at Bareilly College, India and before joining T- Cell group I was working as a Junior Research Fellow in the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. I love oversleeping, cricket and my Indi-Panjabi guitar tabs.
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.
Clare Gent
I came to the T-cell biology group for work experience following completion of my GCSE exams at Oxford High School.
Claire Jessup
I completed my Biotechnology honours degree and doctoral studies at Flinders University (Adelaide, Australia). My PhD project, under the expert guidance of Keryn Williams in the Department of Ophthalmology, examined the potential of gene therapy for the treatment of corneal transplant rejection. Having lived all of my life in beautiful Adelaide, I decided it was time to have a look at 'the rest of the world' and was fortunate enough to meet Simon at a conference. I was awarded a NHMRC CJ Martin Travelling Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Australian Government and was welcomed into the T-cell Biology Group in July 2006.
Currently my work investigates molecules involved in T cell triggering, including CD28 and CTLA-4. My main project involves reconstituting T cell-surface signaling machinery in insect cells. Being a cellular immunologist at heart, it has been an enjoyable challenge adjusting to the molecular and structural focus of the lab, and I have appreciated the support of my fellow lab members in making the transition as smooth as possible!
Outside of the lab you'll find my on my trusty (rusty) bike or on a netball court. I think Oxford is a beautiful place to live, and I'm looking forward to exploring as much of the northern hemisphere as I can over the next two years.
Dave Sleep
Having grown up in a sleepy sea-side town on the South coast, following my A-levels I escaped to Southampton University where I spent two and a half years studying Biology with Oceanography. Seeing the error of my ways after all that time, I switched to a pure Biology honours BSc so that I could study parasitology and immunology in the last half of my final year.
After graduation I worked for a year with the Health Protection Agency in Southampton General Hospital testing blood, urine and other revolting patient samples for even more revolting diseases. Deciding I wasn’t quite ready for the real world yet, I moved to London to study at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for an MSc in the Immunology of Infectious Diseases. The course was absolutely fantastic and persuaded me that a PhD was the way forward. After some searching, I was offered an interview for a D.Phil. in Simon’s lab and was given the position.
My D.Phil. centres around the introduction of a number of immune effector molecules on to B16-F10 melanoma cells so that we may elicit an immune response against them in an appropriate model. I also work with John James making conjugated Fab fragments for the investigation of single molecule cell movements on the T cell surface.
Outside the lab you’ll find me either cycling, climbing up a wall, kayaking (on a river!), playing rugby, running, or just trying to find a decent pub with no undergraduates or tourists in.
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.
Farhana Ahmadi
I came to the lab to undertake a project looking at the biophysical properties of murine PD-1 and its ligands as part of my M.Sc. in Immunology.
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.
Jamie Tarlton
I came to the T-cell biology group on work experience placement. My first such placement had been at an architects office as I was convinced that this was my calling; as you're reading this you can obviously tell that I changed my mind. This placement went a lot better (at least I still want to do something in science). While here I successfully inserted the gene TCRa into the vector pGFP2 at position n3. This involved PCR and plasmids which I’d been learning about in my biology AS-level and now understand a lot more.
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).
Kasim Alam
I am part way through my A-levels and was awarded a Nuffield Bursary to work with the T-cell biology group for 6 weeks in the summer. My project involved making constructs to test the association of CD3 chains transfected into 293T cells using BRET.
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.
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.
Scientist Barbie
I joined the lab in 2007, having completed my studies in Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford and here in Oxford. My role is as a trouble shooter, being available to everyone in the lab to solve both technical and scientific problems. I am currently travelling around Europe, but hope to return to the T-cell biology group soon.
Selma Pereira-Lopes
Sreenu Vattipally
I come from Ramancha, a small village in Andhra Pradesh, India. After completing my schooling in Ramancha, I went on to do a Bachelors degree at the Government Degree college, Siddipet, and my Masters in Microbiology at the Osmania University, Hyderabad.
Following my masters, I pursued my PhD in the Laboratory of Computational Biology at the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad. I was under the supervision of one of India's eminent computational biologists, Dr.H. A. Nagarajaram. My PhD research work was the first to show the role of microsatellites' in mycobacterial pathogenesis. In addition, the work also provided new insights into the influence of microsatellite repeat number variations in fusion, fission and premature termination of genes in mycobacterial genomes.
I joined the T-cell biology group as a bioinfomatician in the summer of 2006. My work mainly
involves analysing SAGE data by means of computational analysis. In my spare time I play chess,
SuDoku and the keyboard. I am a computer geek and love familiarizing myself with new software.
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.
Xiao-Xiao Cheng