Vincenzo De Paola awarded SGD 1.6 million National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Open Fund – Individual Research Grant (OF-IRG) to study neurodevelopment in Down syndrome and special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 (SATB2)-associated syndrome (SAS).
GROUP HEAD
Vincenzo is from Naples, Italy. He received his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology in 2003 from the University of Basel, Switzerland for his examination of pre-synaptic terminal dynamics in the hippocampus, done under the supervision of Pico Caroni at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, part of the Novartis Foundation. He was awarded an EMBO postdoctoral fellowship in 2004 to train with Karel Svoboda at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, USA to work on the plasticity of cortical connections using in vivo multiphoton microscopy. In 2008, Vincenzo was appointed Honourary Group Head of the Neuroplasticity and Disease Group (renamed the Synaptic Plasticity and Repair Group in 2016) at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre and Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London. In 2014, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) and in 2019 to Reader in Translational Neuroscience. In 2021, Vincenzo began a visiting professorship at Duke-NUS Medical School, National University of Singapore, leading the Laboratory of Translational Neuroscience in the Signature Research Programme in Neuroscience and Behavioural Disorders. His team studies the mechanisms of synaptic and axonal reorganization in the brain relevant to ageing and neuropsychiatric diseases by using a combination of in vivo optical imaging and molecular genetic, behavioural and computational analyses, the results of which have been published in high-impact peer review journals. Vincenzo is on the editorial boards of Sciencematters, Frontiers in Cellular Biochemistry, Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience and Neural Plasticity, and in 2018 was nominated to the F1000Prime Faculty of Neuroscience, Section of Neurobiology Disease & Regeneration. Outside the laboratory, Vincenzo enjoys his family, sports (especially swimming, rowing, tennis, skiing, and, of course, football), messing around in the kitchen, visual arts (such as cinema and photography), travelling and listening to all kinds of music.
VISITING PHD STUDENT
Osh is from Lagos, Nigeria. He received his MSc in Physics from Umea University, Sweden, for his work in the lab of Professor Henry Baltes at the ETH in Zürich, Switzerland on the post processing of CMOS multi-electrode arrays (MEAs) for biological compatibility with shifted electrode design, making it possible to realise different geometries for defined neural networks in vitro. He tested the liquid state machine hypothesis on cultured MEAs to verify the separation and approximation properties, and later extended MEAs to support multiculture systems and surface functionalisations for contractile cells. Osh is currently a PhD student at Imperial College London in the Neural Coding Laboratory of Simon Schultz, and in 2013 he joined the Neuroplasticity and Disease Group (renamed the Synaptic Plasticity and Repair Group in 2016) as a visiting PhD student to work on in vivo imaging of experience-dependent synaptic plasticity. His research focus is on neural microcircuits, specifically, how concepts such as memories, information content, processing and coding strategies can be unambiguously tied to micro/macro structural charges. Osh is founder and CEO of Koniku®, an award-winning biotechnology company, established in 2013, specialising in neuron electronic interfacing. Outside the lab, Osh is an avid footballer and snowboarder, and is probably too passionate about jazz.
PHD STUDENT
Cher received her BSc in Neuroscience from the University of Bristol in 2013 and then worked with Dr Roman Shusterman at the University of Haifa on the electrophysiological properties of neurons in the olfactory bulb. Cher has a keen interest in using interdisciplinary approaches to applying computational methods to the study of synaptic connectivity in the brain. In October 2014, Cher joined the Neuroplasticity and Disease Group (renamed the Synaptic Plasticity and Repair Group in 2016) on a 4-year EPSRC-funded Neurotechnology Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) PhD studentship to study high-throughput visualization and computational consequences of increased synaptic plasticity and axon regeneration in the living aged brain. This studentship is in collaboration with Claudia Clopath and Anil Anthony Bharath in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London. In her spare time, Cher enjoys martial arts, dancing, computer games, strategy board games, computer animations and travelling.
PHD STUDENT
Elizabeth was born and raised in Saskatoon, Canada. She received her BSc (Hons) in Biology, with a minor in Psychology, in 2018 from the University of Victoria, Canada. Her honours project, supervised by Brian Christie, was on hippocampal long-term potentiation in FMR1 KO mice. Elizabeth did her MSc on LGI1 release in epilepsy in Gabriele Lignani’s lab (University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, UK), graduating with Distinction in September 2019, and in October 2019, she joined the Synaptic Plasticity and Repair Group as a PhD student and Early Stage Researcher in the Syn2Psy Innovative Training Network, funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Initiative. She is investigating synaptic and neural network dysfunction in a new in vivo model of Down syndrome using 2-photon imaging.
PHD STUDENT
Maria was born in Badajoz, Spain. She received her BSc in Cancer Biology and Immunology from the University of Bristol, exploring neurite dynamics in in vitro models of Parkinson’s disease, and an MRes with Distinction in Health Sciences Research from the University of Bristol for her work on using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived midbrain-like organoids and animal models to investigate if influenza infection is a predisposition to Parkinson’s disease. Maria joined the Synaptic Plasticity and Repair Group in March 2021 as a MRC Doctoral Training Partnership (MRC DTP) PhD Student to investigate the different seeding and morphological properties of α-synuclein in different synucleinopathies. She is co-supervised by JavierAlegre Abarrategui, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London.
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
Michael grew up near Ulm, Germany. He received his BSc (2006) and MSc (2008) in Biochemistry and his PhD (2012), under the supervision of Thomas Wirth and Bernd Baumann, from the Institute of Physiological Chemistry, Ulm University. Michael studied NF-kB signalling, a key transcriptional regulator of inflammatory responses, in astrocytes and neurons in mouse models, showing astrocytic NF-kB activation can drive neuroinflammatory processes and disrupt normal brain development and homeostasis. After a break to travel around the world for nine months, and a postdoctoral stint in Ulm in 2013, Michael joined Francois Guillemot’s lab at the Francis Crick Institute, London in mid-2015 to use genomics approaches, including single cell RNA-sequencing and ATAC-sequencing, to study the transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms underlying the maturation of astrocytes. In November 2021, he joined the Synaptic Plasticity and Repair Group as a research associate to use single cell transcriptomics to study the impact of Down syndrome on human cortical development. Outside the lab, Michael enjoys travelling and outdoor activities.
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW
Shabana received her BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences from University College London (UCL) in 2010, specialising in the Neurosciences and Developmental Biology. Her undergraduate research project, with Professor John Parnavelas, focussed on the cellular mechanisms of interneuron migration in the developing cortex. She completed her MSc in Clinical Neurosciences in 2011 at the UCL Institute of Neurology (ION), graduating with Distinction. During this time, she worked in Professor Dame Linda Partridge’s group at the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing, in collaboration with Professor John Hardy’s group at the ION, on modelling mutations in parkinsonian disorders using the Drosphila melanogaster fly model. Shabana completed her PhD in Developmental Neurobiology in 2016 at the Francis Crick Institute in London in Dr Siew-Lan Ang’s group, where she studied the molecular heterogeneity of midbrain dopamine neurons. Shabana’s work uncovered the role of the NeuroD family of bHLH transcription factors in the survival of a novel subset of midbrain dopaminergic neurons projecting to the lateral septum. She joined the Synaptic Plasticity and Repair Group in June 2017 on a 3 year MRC postdoctoral fellowship to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating cortical synaptic circuit regeneration in response to injury and neurodegenerative disease. Outside of the lab, Shabana enjoys travelling, swimming, photography, reading fiction and creating SciArt.
SENIOR RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Auriel received her BSc in Neuroscience in 2018 from the University of Western Australia. She then worked as research officer at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore before joining the Translational Neuroscience group in February 2023. Auriel has a strong interest in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly early-onset dementia. She loves all kinds of animals (she has two black cats), plays multiple intruments and practices yoga.
PHD STUDENT
Raquel is from Porto, Portugal. She received her MD in 2005 from the University of Porto and then continued her medical education in the Neurology Residency Programme at Centro Hospitalar de São João (Porto), which she completed in 2012. In 2013, Raquel was admitted to the Graduate Programme in Areas of Basic and Applied Biology (GABBA) at the University of Porto, and in December 2014 she joined the Neuroplasticity and Disease Group (renamed the Synaptic Plasticity and Repair Group in 2016) as a PhD student, supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) to investigate the molecular mechanisms of axon and synaptic remodelling in the context of brain injury. Outside the lab, Raquel enjoys photography, cinema, music and discovering London.
RESEARCH FELLOW
Srinivasan received his Integrated MTech in Biotechnology and Engineering in 2014 from Bharathidasan University, India, his MSc in Molecular Genetics in 2014 from the The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Genome Institute of Singapore and the University of Cambridge, UK, and his PhD in Human/Medical Genetics in 2019 from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He did postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School and in Su Chun Zhang’s group at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore before joining the Translational Neuroscience group in June 2023.
PHD STUDENT / SENIOR RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Marcos did his MSc in Molecular Biology at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. He joined the Synaptic Plasticity and Repair Group in November 2020 as a PhD Student and Early Stage Researcher in the Syn2Psy Innovative Training Network, funded by the EU Horizon 2021 Program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Initiative, to work on the development of innovative translational models of neurodevelopmental disorders and unravelling the mechanisms of action behind new pharmacological treatments, and in April 2023, he began work with the group as a senior research assistant after it moved to Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore to become the Laboratory of Translational Neuroscience. Marcos loves outdoor sports, travelling and nature.
SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW
Salil received his BSc in Zoology in 2002 from the University of Calicut, India, his MSc in Industrial Biotechnology in 2004 from Bharathiar Univesity, India, and his PhD in Biology in 2014 from the University of Cologne, Germany. After holding a number of postdoctoral positions at research institutions in India, Germany and Qatar, he joined the Translational Neuroscience group in May 2023 as a senior research fellow to investigate the biology of synapses and neural network activity in Alzheimer’s disease using in vitro cell culture models and in vivo mouse models. Salil enjoys driving and travelling as far as possible.
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Gigi received her BSc in Psychology in 2019 and MSc in Clinical Mental Health Sciences in 2020 from University College London, UK. She has work experience with research and management in a neurological lab as well as the delivery of clinical mental health services (at West London NHS Trust, UK) and community health programs (at Thrive Well, Malaysia). Gigi has a keen interest in the integration of evidence-based mental healthcare services into primary care and the development and implementation of health policies to promote such integration. She joined the Translational Neuroscience group in January 2022 as a research assistant to help set up and maintain the laboratory and draft applications to the Safety, Health, Emergency Management, Research Integrity & Compliance (SHERIC) Department.
PHD STUDENT
Maria is from Milan, Italy. She received her BSc in Biological Science from the University of Milan, whereafter she held an internship in neurobiology in the lab of Professor Andrea Nistri, at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, investigating and then publishing work on how nicotinic acetylcholine receptor activation can support cell survival by contrasting glutamate mediated excitotoxicity in hypoglossal motoneurons. Maria returned to the University of Milan to do her MSc in Neuroscience, which she completed in 2016, and then worked at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan to study astroglial impairment in Rett syndrome, before joining the Synaptic Plasticity and Repair Group in July 2017 on a 3 year Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) PhD Scholarship to work on a new in vivo model of axon pathology in human tau mutants. In her spare time, Maria enjoys cooking for friends, reading and travelling.