Martin Lee Scholars - 2022 cohort

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Ewan graduated from the University of Manchester, UK, with an integrated Masters (MSci) in Genetics. His final year project during his MSci focused on regeneration in zebrafish.

After obtaining his MSci Ewan moved to Edinburgh to enrol on the Martin Lee Doctoral Scholarship programme.

On being awarded a scholarship Ewan said:

‘I was delighted upon receiving the Martin Lee scholarship award. So far, my experience has been transformative, as the programme allows one to explore numerous exciting fields of research at one of the world's leading institutes. Moreover, I have had the freedom to truly study the topics I'm interested in, without worrying about finical burdens. Simply put, none of this would be possible without this award. Therefore, I am very grateful for this scholarship opportunity.’

As first year Martin Lee Doctoral Scholar Ewan studied the role of Gata3 as a pioneer factor in endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition for his first rotation project in the lab of Prof Katrin Ottersbach (CRM). Ewan did his second rotation in the lab of Dr Abdenour Soufi (CRM), mapping changes in chromatin accessibility during the endothelial-to-haematopoietic transition.

Publications:

Ventura et al. (2023) In Vitro Model of Fetal Human Vessel On-chip to Study Developmental Mechanobiology. J Vis Exp Jul 28:(197).

Research:

Rotation 1: The role of Gata3’s function as a pioneer factor in haematopoietic stem cells.​ Lab of Prof Katrin Ottersbach lab, CRM.

Rotation 2: Mapping changes in chromatin accessibility during the endothelial-to-haematopoietic transition. Lab of Dr Abdenour Soufi, CRM.

PhD project: Identifying pioneer factors during hematopoietic stem cell emergence. Lab of Prof Katrin Ottersbach lab, CRM.

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Aisling completed her undergraduate degree at Maastricht University, The Netherlands where she undertook her studies at the Maastricht Science Programme. During her studies Aisling focussed on medical biology courses, and spent a semester at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. For her Bachelor Thesis Research Aisling characterised human kidney organoids.

She then went on to do a Masters degree at Imperial College London, UK, studying Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology. During her research project, Aisling investigated developing optical barcoding techniques.

After her Masters she worked as a research assistant on haematopoietic stem cells at University College London, UK, before joining the Martin Lee Doctoral Scholarship programme.

On being awarded a scholarship Aisling said:

‘I’m really excited to have started on the Martin Lee PhD programme. The rotations and the fact that we write our own PhD project proposal mean I have the space to further discover my interests, learn new skills and develop a project I am passionate about. I have felt very supported by the programme team, as well as by my cohort and the others at the CRM.’

Aisling did her first rotation project as Martin Lee Doctoral Scholar in the lab or Prof Sally Lowell (CRM), where she worked on further adapting the SynNotch system to investigate cell-cell interaction in early development. For her second rotation Aisling investigated tissue resilience and cell recovery following radiotherapy injury in the salivary glands in the lab of Dr Elaine Emmerson (CRM).

Publications:

Wincott et al. (2022) Cellular barcoding of protozoan pathogens reveals the within-host population dynamics of Toxoplasma gondii host colonization. Cell Rep Methods 2(8):100274.

Awards:

CRM Public Engagement Award 2023

Research:

​​​​​Rotation 1: Creating new tools to monitor and manipulate cell interactions ​​​​. Lab of Prof Sally Lowell, CRM.

Rotation 2: Investigating tissue resilience and cell recovery following radiotherapy injury in the salivary glands, with a focus on Gadd45. Lab of Dr Elaine Emmerson, CRM.

PhD project: Studying neighbours of preneoplastic cells using SyNPL disease models. Lab of Prof Sally Lowell, CRM.

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Hei Ip graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 2020 with a degree in Biochemistry.

She then obtained a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Hong Kong, where she looked at the functional consequences of PIK3CA gene amplification on cancer cell phenotypes, signalling, and drug responses with PIK3CA E545K mutation in serous ovarian cancer.

On being awarded a scholarship Hei Ip said:

‘I am thankful to be selected as recipient of the Martin Lee Doctoral Programme in Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. This fully funded programme allows me to focus more on my research without being worried about financial issues. The interdisciplinary training and supportive environment at IRR are very appealing. This incredible opportunity to join the programme allows me to gain numerous new skills and reach my full potential.‘

For her first rotation as Martin Lee Doctoral Scholar Hei Ip investigated the effect of liver stem cell derived signals on neutrophils during liver regeneration in the lab of Dr Wei-Yu Lu. For her second rotation Hei Ip worked in the lab of Prof Steve Pollard (CRM) on the assessment of glioblastoma synthetic super-enhancer activity across tumour subtypes.

Awards:

Martin Lee Doctoral Programme Interchange Award 2023 - Winner. Awarded during the 1st UoE/HKU Joint Symposium & Workshop on Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, Hong Kong, 21 March 2023.

Research:

Rotation 1: Investigating the effect of liver stem cell derived signals on neutrophils during liver regeneration. Lab of Dr Wei-Yu Lu, CIR.

Rotation 2: Assessment of glioblastoma synthetic super-enhancer activity across tumour subtypes. Lab of Prof Steve Pollard, CRM.

PhD project: Development of synthetic super-enhancers that are selective for oncogenic signalling pathways. Lab of Prof Steve Pollard, CRM.

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Lydia Lorenzo graduated with BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience from the University of Manchester, UK. During the first year of her BSc degree, she worked for 3 months at Neuroscience department of the Research Institute Galicia Sur (Spain), where she investigated molecules in human breast milk with a potential role in neurodevelopment.

In 2020 Lydia undertook an industrial placement at BenevolentAI, a drug discovery company based in Cambridge, UK. During this year she worked on stem-cell-based models of neurodegenerative diseases which were used in cell-based assays for compound screening.  After this placement she returned to Manchester to finish her degree, working in the Prokop lab to investigate the role of axonal endoplasmic reticulum in microtubule organisation and dynamics using Drosophila as a model organism. 

On being awarded a scholarship Lydia said:

‘I am extremely grateful to be part of the Martin Lee Scholars at The University of Edinburgh. Since I started my degree in neuroscience four years ago, I wanted to do research to improve the quality of life of people suffering from neurological diseases. Being trained as Martin Lee Scholar by some of the best scientists in the world will make me grow as a scientist, and I believe these skills will allow me to eventually contribute to this exciting field of research.‘ 

Lydia did her first rotation as Martin Lee Doctoral Scholar in the lab of Prof Tilo Kunath (CRM) ​​​​, exploring the heterogeneity of dopaminergic neurons derived from pluripotent stem cells. Her second rotation was titled 'Identification of neuronal-specific synthetic super-enhancers for AAV-based gene therapy' in the lab of Prof Steve Pollard (CRM).

Awards 

• J.P. Dancer Prize for the best final year Neuroscience Project (The University of Manchester) 
• The Dennis Leigh Programme Prize for the highest final year marks in Neuroscience (The University of Manchester).  

Research:

Rotation 1: Dopaminergic neuron heterogeneity from human pluripotent stem cells ​​​​​​. Lab of Prof Tilo Kunath, CRM.

Rotation 2: Identification of neuronal-specific synthetic super-enhancers for AAV-based gene therapy. Lab of Prof Steve Pollard, CRM.

PhD project: Manipulating ependymal cells to enhance mammalian spinal cord regeneration. Lab of Dr Aida Rodrigo-Albors, CRM.

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Jacky graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a BEd & BSc Molecular Biology/Biology Teaching, after which he undertook an MSc by Research ‘Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Repair’ at The University of Edinburgh, UK.

On being awarded a scholarship Jacky said:

‘Receiving the Martin Lee Scholarship allows me to further hone my skills and knowledge to be part of the stem cell research community, hoping one day my research will be transformed into clinically available therapy accessible to all walks of life.’

For his first research rotation as Martin Lee Doctoral Scholar Jacky worked on the identification of cell surface markers and culture conditions that enable isolation and expansion of human chemically reprogrammed liver progenitors (CLiPs) in the lab of Prof Keisuke Kaji (CRM). Jacky did his  second rotation in the lab of Dr Prakash Ramachandran (CIR) working on  the molecular and cellular composition of the liver fibrotic niche.

Publications:

Guo et al. (2022) Phosphoregulation of DSB-1 mediates control of meiotic double-strand break activity. eLife 11:e77956.

Awards:

Amgen Scholars Programme, Kyoto University (2019)

Research:

Rotation 1: Identifying cell surface markers and culture conditions that enable isolation and expansion of human chemically reprogrammed liver progenitors (CLiPs) with re-differentiation capacity ​​​​​​. Lab of Prof Kei Kaji, CRM.

Rotation 2: Dissecting the molecular and cellular composition of the liver fibrotic niche using high-dimensional spatial analysis. Lab of Dr Prakash Ramachandran, CIR.

PhD project: Defining and interrogating pathogenic cellular interactions in the liver fibrotic niche. Lab of Dr Prakash Ramachandran, CIR.