Our Students
‘Cell/Advanced Therapies for Regenerative Medicine’ Wellcome Trust PhD Programme students (past and present) at the Centre for Gene Therapy & Regenerative Medicine (CGTRM).
COHORT 2016
I obtained a MSci in Biochemistry (with Immunology) from University of Aberdeen with a year in industry at GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage, UK. As part of an Aberdeen university team, I participated in the international Genetically Engineered Machine Competition at MIT, USA, where scientists across the world present innovative projects to address worldwide problems through synthetic biology. Our project aimed to develop an E. coli-based system to detect infections with the Trypanosoma parasite for people living in underprivileged rural places in Africa.
I completed my undergraduate studies in Life Sciences in the Netherlands, where I was lucky enough to work as an intern in both the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam and Utrecht University Medical Centre. I obtained various experiences in cell and molecular biology and discovered my interest in stem cells while working in Utrecht on the stem cell marker Lgr5.
I completed a Bachelor’s degree in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology with a focus on neuroscience at Harvard University (Cambridge, USA). I then spent two years working as a research assistant and a teaching fellow at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
While obtaining my Honours degree in Molecular Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, I spent half a year in Uppsala University in an ERASMUS exchange programme, and a year in industry working at Eli Lilly. I spent most of my summers doing internships in labs in Edinburgh, as well as in ETH (Zurich) as part of a research programme organized by Amgen.
I have a BSc in ‘Biomedical Engineering’ and a MSc. in ‘Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine’ from the University of Applied Sciences Technikum in Vienna, Austria.
As part of my undergraduate Biochemistry degree at Imperial College London, I conducted a year’s industrial placement investigating aspects of Alzheimer’s disease. This ended up being the best year of my degree and confirmed that I wanted to pursue a career in research.
COHORT 2017
I obtained my bachelor's degree in Biomedical Science at the University of Sheffield where I also completed a project at the Centre for Stem Cell Biology during a Wellcome Trust funded placement. Following my degree I worked for Axol Bioscience, a biotech start-up specialising in iPSC culture and differentiation, and Charles River, a contract research organisation which provides many services for the development of pharmaceuticals.
I completed a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences with a Year in Industry at Imperial College London. During my third year of this degree, I completed an Industrial Placement in the Allergic Inflammation Discovery Performance Unit at GlaxoSmithKline in Stevenage.
I completed a BSc in Biological Sciences at Imperial College London, with a year in Industry where I worked in R&D at GlaxoSmithKline in Stevenage.
I completed my undergraduate degree in developmental biology (MSci) at the University of Manchester, where I worked with Professor Sue Kimber to develop iPSC models of rare skeletal disorders. During this time, I also undertook a BBSRC funded studentship to investigate wound healing in diabetes.
I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of York, graduating with a BSc Biochemistry degree. During my bachelor's degree, I gained research experience by participating in the iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) competition as a member of the team representing my university. I spent the third year of my four-year degree on an industrial placement at the Earlham Institute, improving my knowledge of bioinformatics and learning more about gene expression analysis and tissue culture.
COHORT 2018
I obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry with a Year in Industry at the University of Leeds. During this time, I spent a year working in the Investigative Toxicology group at UCB BIoPharma in Belgium exploring novel biomarkers of drug-induced kidney injury for toxicity assessments. I then completed my undergraduate thesis project in the lab of Alan Berry working on structural studies to uncover the crystal structure of IdmH, a putative polyketide cyclase and an enzymatic component of the NRPS/PKS system which generates the antibiotic indanomycin.
I completed a MSci in Genetics at University College London. I then spent two and a half years working as a research technician in Dr Filipe Cabreiro’s microbiology-metabolism lab, exploring the three-way host-microbiome-environment relationship, using a C. elegans model.
I completed my undergraduate degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Bath. During my degree, I undertook a placement year to research novel autophagy adaptor proteins in redox homeostasis under Professor Luo at the Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry. When I returned to Bath for my final year, I joined Professor Tosh’s lab where I was involved in the characterization of novel transcription factors associated with transdifferentiation events that occur in Barrett’s Oesophagus disease.
I completed my undergraduate degree in Molecular Medicine and a master’s degree in Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Albrecht Ludwig University of Freiburg.
I completed my undergraduate and master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the University of Milan (Italy). During my BSc I examined the molecular mechanisms of stress in the development of depression (University of Milan). During my MSc my work focused on the crystallisation of a Dengue virus protein for drug discovery purposes (internship at University College London). After graduating, I enrolled in the ORISE post-bac fellowship program at the National Institutes of Health (USA) where I worked on a basic cell biology project, looking at the interplay between structure and function of the endoplasmic reticulum.
I completed my undergraduate degree in Developmental Biology at the University of Manchester, where I developed an interest in the role of physical cues in regulating cell fate. I then spent a year working as a publishing assistant at the Nature Publishing Group. Finally, I studied for an MPhil in Biological Sciences at the University of Cambridge, during which I further pursued my interest in the cellular interactions that occur in response to injury using a mouse model that allows for lineage tracing of a specific pulmonary mesenchymal cell type.
COHORT 2019
I completed my Master’s degree in regenerative medicine at UCL and afterwards gained experience in corneal tissue engineering using 3D bioprinting at Newcastle University. Following this, I worked as a research assistant at the Sanger Institute where I helped to establish a pipeline for genetic knockout studies on induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived hepatocytes.
I completed my undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London. During my time there I became interested in how mechanical forces affect tissues in the body. In my third-year project I looked at the effect of mechanical forces on wound repair. For my master’s project I studied the effects of mechanical forces on endothelial cells and how this relates to the activation of the Wnt signalling pathway.
I completed my bachelor’s degree in biology at Bowdoin College in Maine, USA, and after graduating I worked as a Research Assistant in the Melton Lab at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Massachusetts, USA. While working there, I studied part-time to receive a Master of Liberal Arts degree in Biotechnology Management from the Harvard Extension School.
I completed a bachelor’s degree in Natural Sciences at University of Cambridge and a master’s degree in biotechnology at Imperial College London. I then worked for two years at AstraZeneca in Gothenburg, Sweden.
I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences and MPhil in Structural Biology at the University of Hong Kong. I completed an MSc in Health Data Science at University College London.
For my bachelor’s degree, I completed the course of Biomedical Sciences at the Federal University of São Paulo. In the third year of this course, I was awarded a scholarship from the Brazilian government to complete an exchange year at the University of Sheffield. When returning, I completed my bachelor thesis with Prof Patricia Beltrão Braga, in which I developed a 3D model of the developing brain using iPSC-derived neural progenitor cells. To carry on with my interest in neuroscience, I was thrilled to receive the Goethe Goes Global scholarship to complete a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience at the Goethe University of Frankfurt. My master thesis with Dr Julia Ladewig involved optimising protocols to derive forebrain organoids from iPSCs.
I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London. Whilst there, I did my final year dissertation at William Harvey Research Institute on exploring the process of ubiquitination on the NF-κB activation downstream of TLR7 signalling. I joined an MRes in Cancer Biology at Imperial College London to acquire more diverse laboratory skills. For my first master rotation at the Francis Crick Institute, I had the opportunity to work with CyTOF and imaging mass cytometry to investigate the immune profile of Kras driven lung tumours from mice. Along with the design of an antibody panel and the optimisation of the protocol, I learned the use of current softwares and developed image analysis pipelines.
COHORT 2020
I completed my BSc Biochemistry at University College Cork, Ireland, and MSc in Biomedicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. During my Master’s degree, I moved to London to complete my thesis by Erasmus in the lab of Dr Selina Wray at University College London. I then stayed in London as a research technician at King’s College London (lab of Dr Katie Long). My interests are centred on in vitro modelling of diseases and the role of the extracellular matrix in disease.
At UCL, I received my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry with a Year in Industry undertaken at Protein Technologies group, GlaxoSmithKline Stevenage. In the past, I was fascinated by the mechanisms of molecular machines that are responsible for the correct functioning of cells. Under Dr Lisa Cabrita's supervision, I explored various methodologies to create 'snapshots' of protein biogenesis to probe the co-translational protein (mis)folding facilitated by the ribosomes. At GSK, I received excellent mentorship from Dr Maja Firczuk and Dr Michael Mullin; I was entrusted to lead the expression technology project which sought to improve mammalian protein expression and secretion through the design of regulatory genetic circuits.
At the Open University I studied for a Certificate of Higher Education in Natural Sciences. From there I went on to the University of Manchester to complete a BSc (Hons) in Developmental Biology. During my industrial experience year, I worked for 9 months at A*STAR in Dr Ernesto Guccione’s lab helping research PRDM10 activity in mouse embryonic stem cells. The summer after, I joined Peter Sarkies lab to work on selection pressure on chromatin condensation using C. elegans mutation accumulation models.
I completed my BSc in Biochemistry at Imperial College London, during which I examined long-term balancing selection in low-coverage whole-genome sequencing data in the lab of Dr Matteo Fumagalli. Following this, I worked as a clinical AI data intern at SIME Diagnostics Ltd and collated electronic clinical data for neonatal respiratory diseases. I then pursued an MPhil in Genomic Medicine at the University of Cambridge, where I studied the involvement of DNA repair and apoptosis signalling pathways in anti-cancer drug responses using computational methods with Dr Mathew Garnett.
I completed my undergraduate degree at King’s College London, graduating with a BSc Biochemistry degree. As part of my bachelor’s degree, I joined Rocio Sancho’s lab for a summer research placement to work on the development of iPSC-derived pancreas organoid cell lines to investigate the role of pro-endocrine transcription factors regulating pancreas differentiation. For my final year thesis, I joined the Knight lab to study the role of the histone methyltransferase Ezh2 in tissue repair and organogenesis using a zebrafish in vivo model.
I completed my undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Crete, Greece. For my final year project, I investigated the impact of DNA damage accumulation on macrophages using a transgenic mouse model of ageing. Afterwards, I completed a MRes in Translational Neuroscience at University College London and Queen Square Institute of Neurology. For my thesis, I worked with Professor Sonia Gandhi at the Francis Crick Institute focusing on the generation of microglia from human iPSCs to investigate the role of neuroinflammation in Parkinson’s disease.
COHORT 2021
I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Biology at The University of Bristol, gaining research experience in a range of areas, including trypanosome parasites in Prof Wendy Gibson’s lab and type 1 diabetes in Prof Kathleen Gillespie’s lab. After briefly considering a career in nutritional sciences, I chose to pursue my interest in autoimmune diseases by undertaking a Master’s in immunology at King’s College London. During my MSc, I worked in Prof Leonie Taams’s lab, investigating IL-17-producing cell types in spondylarthritis. Following my MSc, I took up a research assistant position in Dr Sophie Papa’s lab, investigating T cell exhaustion in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, through the use of CyTOF.
I completed my MEng in Biomedical Engineering at Queen Mary, University of London with my thesis in the lab of Prof Julien Gautrot. I then spent 3 years working in medical device development within the Medical Physics department at the RVI in Newcastle. Here I was awarded an ICURe grant from Innovate UK to act as an entrepreneurial lead on a project to develop a new technology to improve organ transplantation outcomes.
I obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Biochemistry at Imperial College London. During this time I worked in the lab of Professor Andrea Crisanti, developing genetic engineering techniques for population control of A. gambiae mosquitoes. I further completed an MSc in Neuroscience at Imperial, where I worked with Professor Nicholas Mazarakis on the development of a gene therapy for CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder. My project involved differentiation of astrocytes from patient-derived iPSCs.
I completed my undergraduate degree in Biotechnology Engineering at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico, and after graduating I worked as a Voluntary Research Intern in the Varela Lab at the Institute of Neurobiology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). I was awarded a scholarship from the Mexican Council of Science and Technology to pursue a master's degree in Neuroscience in Developmental Neurobiology at King's College London (2020-21).
I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from University College Dublin, Ireland. During this time, I undertook a Wellcome Trust-funded project at UCD in the area of Alzheimer’s Disease, as well as an Erasmus placement at Cambridge University modelling Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease with iPSCs, in the lab of Prof David Rowitch. Following my studies, I became a research assistant at the National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology at Dublin City University. Here, I developed organotypic models of uveal melanoma from primary patient tumours during a post of 18-months. Following this, I moved to London where I took up a research assistant position at KCL, exploring the role of molecular chaperones in iPSC-derived astrocytes in the context of Alzheimer's Disease.
I completed my undergraduate degree in Human Anatomy at the University of Dundee and moved to London in 2019 to obtain my masters in Neuroscience at King’s College London. While completing my MSc I developed a special interest in harnessing the potential of organoids for studying neurodevelopment, and during my thesis developing an open-source high content analysis pipeline to analyse hiPSC-derived gastruloids. Before starting my PhD, I was fortunate enough to experience research out with my niche in the lab of Sibylle Mittnacht at the UCL Cancer Institute, contributing to work on identifying therapeutic vulnerability of RB-1 mutant osteosarcoma to Parp1,2 inhibitors.
COHORT 2022
I obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the Technical University Braunschweig (Germany), where alongside my studies I worked as a student research assistant at the Department of Cellular Neurobiology. During this degree, both my thesis project in Prof Martin Korte’s lab and an extracurricular project in Prof Tim Karl’s lab at Western Sydney University focussed on behavioural neuroscience. I then went on to complete a Master’s degree in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Maastricht (The Netherlands) with a 10-month placement in Prof Vincenzo De Paola’s group at Imperial College London. Here, I had the chance to gain insight into modelling human neuron development in vivo using a xenotransplantation approach. Before starting the ATRM PhD program, I joined the Cells for Sight team led by Prof Julie Daniels at University College London as a research assistant manufacturing artificial ocular surface tissue under GMP conditions.
I obtained my BSc in Biochemistry with Professional Experience at The University of Manchester. During my studies, I completed a placement year at the University of California San Francisco at Guo Huang's laboratory to study the regenerative potential of the heart. During this time, I became fascinated by the striking regenerative potential displayed across the animal kingdom and how some of these mechanisms of regeneration are reiterated across ontogeny and phylogeny. For my final year project in Manchester, I joined Karl Kadler's laboratory to explore the circadian regulation of collagen fibrils in response to immune cells in the heart and lungs. Upon completing my undergraduate studies, I wished to pursue a career in academia dedicated to regeneration in a translational field.
I completed my bachelor’s degree in biotechnology engineering with a minor in molecular biology at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico. During my degree, I undertook a year internship in Dr. Dario Lemos Lab at the Harvard Institutes of Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Here, I developed kidney organoids from patient-derived stem cells to model tuberous sclerosis complex, a rare degenerative disease.
I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at the university of Pavia, Italy. During my thesis I focused on hydrocarbon degrading fungi with the aim of understanding how to exploit these microorganisms for the purpose of bioremediation of hydrocarbons derivatives from solid materials.
After considering a career in environmental biology, I decided to pursue my interest for human health, and I enrolled in the Molecular Biology and Genetics master’s degree in the same atheneum. In parallel, I also studied at the Biomedical Sciences class at the University School of Advanced Studies of Pavia (IUSS)….
I read Molecular Genetics at King’s College London at an undergraduate level followed by MRes degree in Biomedical Research specialising in Molecular Basis of Human Disease from Imperial College London. During my postgraduate course I explored the role of microRNAs in regulating pancreatic β-cell functions and contributed towards the generation of a model system for studying the impact of epigenetic changes on serotonin system in vitro.
I then joined Pan3DP Consortium as a research assistant. My primary role was to perform detailed structural characterisation of developing murine pancreas, as well as bioprinted pancreatic organoids using 3D lightsheet microscopy.
COHORT 2023
Profiles coming soon…
Filmed at the Centre for Gene Therapy & Regenerative Medicine (CGTRM) before lockdown, Maria Andrews documents a snippet of cell counting methods used by PhD student Ana Maria Cujba (Cohort 2016) to prepare cultured cells to be differentiated into pancreatic organoids.
COHORT GALLERY
Ideal Candidate
Selection criterion
We receive 200-300 applications/year for this programme. Please see the current student web profiles to get an idea of the range of their previous experiences. In selecting students to interview we consider the following criterion.
Excellent grades throughout your academic history.
Undergraduate university degrees in a biological/ biochemical/life science discipline are most common, but candidates who have undertaken any STEM degree will be considered.
Research experience in at least one laboratory.
Outstanding reference letters. Referees should comment favourably on your academic attributes and your potential to carry out a successful PhD.
Supporting statement in the application that answers the question posed.
Widening Participation
We welcome applicants from communities underrepresented in academia
We recognise that privilege currently plays an important part in who succeeds in a career in academia. Inequality in outcomes is particularly evident for students who come from black minority ethnic or low-income backgrounds, or who are living with a disability. This is something that our PhD programme and King’s College London are keen to help change. If you are part of a community that is historically under-represented in research, please be encouraged to apply.
Congratulations to King's Wellcome PhD Programme students
Congratulations to our students who have successfully published review articles with Professor Fiona Watt and/or Dr Francesca Spagnoli. Find out more about their work below.
They stand in front of historic DNA models near the site where Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin played their part in determining the structure of DNA.