Dr. Negar Afshar Undergraduate student of Genetics: worked on the mapping of a mutation that alters zinc homeostasis in Drosophila. She was the first author of a paper in FEBS Open Biology and second author of another one in Biometals. Continued for a Masters of Science in Genetic manipulation and molecular cell biology at Sussex University and for a PhD at the University of Tokyo.
Ms. Shakirah Chowdhury Undergraduate student of Molecular Biology with Forensic Science: investigated genes that might interact with ferritin to influence the circadian clock. Continued for a Masters in drug discovery and development at University College London.
Dr. Marina Georgiou Undergraduate student of Genetics: studied molybdenum homeostasis in Drosophila with a focus on the aldehyde oxidase gene cluster. Published a paper in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Continued for a Masters in Cancer Research and PhD at Imperial College.
Dr. Konstantinos Mandilaras Ph.D. Student (2008-2012).
His research explored interactions between the circadian clock and iron metabolism in Drosophila, supported by a BBSRC fellowship.
Kostas’ major paper was published in Metallomics where he showed for the first time that iron metabolism genes are required for a functional circadian clock.
His thesis “A screen for iron metabolism genes that influence circadian rhythms implicates Ferritin 2 Light Chain Homologue in the Drosophila clock” was defended successfully on the 11th of June 2012.
Dr. Zvonimir Marelja Visiting PhD student from University of Potsdam supported by an EMBO short term fellowship to perform in vivo analysis of molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis in Drosophila. Defended his thesis entitled “Detection of the L-cysteine desulfurase NFS1 in the cytosol and analysis of its role in molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis in eukaryotes” on the 17th of September 2013. Published a paper in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Continued for a post-doc with Matias Simons at the IMAGINE institute in Paris.
Dr. Liisa M. BlowesUndergraduate student of Medical Genetics who studied ferritin assembly in vivo using fluorescently tagged subunits. Her work contributed to papers in PLoS ONE and IJMS. She stayed at Queen Mary for her PhD on the mechanics of collagenous tissue in starfish.
Ms. Shilpi Sheth Undergraduate student of Medical Genetics: studying the significance of the Fer1HCH iron regulatory element (IRE) by aiming to generate and study a fly mutant with a defective IRE. Moved for a Masters in Molecular Genetics at the University of Leicester.
Ms. Joanna SzularJoanna was our fly technician responsible for fly maintenance and atomic absorption spectrometry measurements. Co-author of papers in the Journal of Experimental Biology, FEBS Open Biology and Biometals.
