People

Principal investigators

  • Professor Glenn A. Burley

    Glenn A. Burley is Professor of Chemical Biology at the University of Strathclyde. Glenn was awarded a Bachelor of Medicinal Chemistry (Hon. I, 1996) and a PhD in Organic Chemistry (2000) from the University of Wollongong, Australia. After a post-doctoral stay at the Fullerene Science Centre at the University of Sussex (2001-2003), Glenn was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship to work with Thomas Carell at the University of Munich (2004-2006). ..

    Glenn began his independent career as an EPSRC Advanced Fellow (2007) at the University of Leicester, before moving to Strathclyde in 2011. Research interests of Glenn’s group focuses on developing molecular tools and technologies to probe gene expression.

  • Professor Alasdair Clark

    Dr Clark is a Professor working in the James Watt School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow.  After obtaining his undergraduate degree in Applied Physics from the University of Strathclyde, Dr Clark moved to the University of Glasgow to pursue a PhD in Nano-Plasmonics. On completion of his PhD studies he took a short Post-Doc appointment at the University of California, Berkeley, before returning to Glasgow to start the Nanophotonic Devices research group.

  • Professor Cyril Dominguez

    Professor Dominguez is a structural biologist interested mainly in protein-RNA interactions involved in the regulation of alternative splicing. He obtained his BSc and MSc in Biochemistry from the University of Aix-Marseille (France). In 2000, Professor Dominguez moved to the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands) to do a PhD under the supervision of Rob Kaptein, Rolf Boelens and Alexandre Bonvin. ..

    During that time, Professor Dominguez developed a novel protein-protein docking software, HADDOCK. After his PhD in 2004, he joined the laboratory of Fred Allain at the ETH Zurich (Switzerland) where he studied the interaction between the splicing factor hnRNP F and G-tract RNAs. In 2010, Professor Dominguez obtained an MRC Career Development Award Fellowship to initiate his own research programme at the University of Leicester. His research focused on i) the interaction between the splicing factor Sam68 and its target RNA and ii) the role of RNA G-quadruplexes in the regulation of alternative splicing. In 2015, Professor Dominguez became a lecturer at the University of Leicester.

  • Professor Ian Eperon

    Professor Eperon studied Biochemistry at the University of Bristol, from 1974 to 1977. The department had considerable strengths in enzyme kinetics, crystallography, nucleic acids and bioenergetics, all of which shaped his view of biochemistry as an essentially molecular and quantitative science. Eperon’s PhD research was done with Dr Fred Sanger at the MRC LMB in Cambridge, starting just as Sanger was publishing the dideoxy sequencing method for DNA that would revolutionize biological science. ..

    Eperon worked on cloning and sequencing human, bovine and trypanosome mitochondrial genomes.

    Eperon obtained an SERC-NATO fellowship in 1981 to work with Professor Joan Steitz at Yale University on the newly-discovered and exciting process known as RNA splicing. In 1984, he was appointed as a lecturer in Leicester. This was followed later by appointments as a Reader and then Professor of Biochemistry. His research focusses in the molecular mechanisms by which splicing is regulated, and he has always been keen to bring new methodologies and perspectives to bear on such a complex process through collaborations with experts in chemistry, structural biology and single molecule methods.

  • Professor Andrew J. Hudson

    Professor Andrew J. Hudson is a biophysicist with a track record for interdisciplinary collaborative research. He graduated with a first class Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Chemical Physics from the University of Toronto, where he worked with Professor John Polanyi, FRS. AJH has worked for a number of companies in the optical technologies industry, EFOS Inc. ..

    (Mississauga, Canada), EXFO Inc. (Mississauga, Canada), and Novx Systems (Richmond Hill, Canada).

    On the theme of single molecule studies, he has worked on particle tracking mechanisms of COPII complexes in live cells (Traffic 2008, 9, 1850-1866) and applied single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy to study the conformational dynamics of forked-DNA (PLoS One 2012, 7, e29703) and the reaction mechanisms of RNA splicing complexes (Nucleic Acids Res, 2012, 40, 6850-6862; ibid 2017, 45, 2051-2067; ibid 2018, 46, 2145-2158). He has also applied Raman microspectroscopy to monitor haem proteins in live cardiomyocytes (J. Royal Soc. Interface 2015, 12, 20141339) and determine mechanisms for how small molecules (NO, CO) confer cardioprotection via their interactions with haem proteins (Anal. Chem. 2015, 87, 10605-10612). AJH has expertise with developing hybrid techniques: for example, the integration of holographic optical tweezing and spectroscopy (Nanoscale, 2016, 8, 16395-16404; Scientific Reports, 2017, 7, 8589), and microfluidics and spectroscopy (ACS Nano, 2015, 9, 9718-9730; ChemSelect, 2017, 2, 3342–3346); both of which are being used for single cell studies in his laboratory. AJH has recently published the first results from the deployment of a genetically-encoded sensor to measure exchangeable (or regulatory) haem in live cells using fluorescence lifetime imaging (PNAS accepted).

Researchers

  • Dr Alexander Axer

    Alexander Axer was born in Bonn (Germany) and obtained his Master degree at the University of Münster (WWU) in 2015 supervised by Professor Ryan Gilmour. After a research stay at the University of Oxford working with Professor Stuart Conway he continued his doctoral studies in Münster with Professor Ryan Gilmour at the WWU and was awarded with his PhD in organic chemistry in 2019. ..

    He remained in the same group for a short postdoctoral research stay and finally joined the group of Professor Glenn Burley at the University of Strathclyde Glasgow in 2020 as a postdoctoral research associate. Alex is now at BACHEM (Basel, Switzerland) as a Project Chemist in the oligonucleotide team.

  • Dr Carlos J. Bueno-Alejo

    Carlos J. Bueno-Alejo got his PhD in organic pharmaceutical chemistry in 2009 in the Polytechnic University of Valencia working in the study of the interaction of the NSAID flurbiprofen with proteins by Laser Flash Photolysis and other spectroscopic and analytical techniques. As the first postdoctoral position he joined the group of Professor Juan C. ..

    Scaiano in University of Ottawa in 2010 where he worked in different fields such as the use of the plasmon band of nanoparticles for catalysis, laser ablation of nanoparticles using laser drop technique and interaction of nanoparticles with proteins. Afterwards, he spent 4 months in the group of Professor Ramon Martinez in Valencia working in self-assembling synthesis of mesoporous materials and their use for drug delivery and in February 2013 he joined the group of Professor Silvia Costa in the Centro de Química Estructural in Instituto Técnico de Lisboa where he worked in the synthesis and characterization of hybrid materials of graphene, metal nanoparticles and fluorescence dyes. From there he went to the University of Zaragoza where he worked in the group of Jesus Santamaria in the synthesis and use of nanomaterials for photocatalysis in gas and liquid phase. In July 2020 he joined the University of Leicester to work as PDRA in the project slola.

  • Philippe De Gusmao Araujo

    Philippe was born in Recife (Brazil) and moved to the UK where he completed his degree in Biomedical Science at De Montfort University in Leicester. During his time at university, Philippe created a biochemistry study support group to support fellow students and collaborated in running of two international RNA conferences in Bermuda. ..

    He also had a summer research assistant post at the University of Leicester and one-year clinical placement at the Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital in the biochemistry department, where he completed the Institute of Biomedical Science Programme which entitled him to register as a biomedical scientist with the Health Care Professional Council. Upon conclusion of his degree, Philippe joined Professor Ian Eperon’s group to start his PhD.

  • Dr Hesna Kara

    Dr Kara completed all her studies in Paris. She became Doctor of Pharmacy in 2014. During this time, she completed her Masters 1 and 2 in Drug Design and New Therapeutic Targets and her training in “Institut Curie” and the laboratory of Drug Design and Therapeutic Targets at the University of Pharmacy in Paris, and her PhD in the same laboratory. ..

    Dr Kara completed her PhD in biochemistry and structural biology in 2019. During her PhD, she was mostly working by NMR technique to analyse the interaction between a viral protein of the HIV and a human protein (UNG2), in order to test molecules that can inhibit this interaction to disturb the replication of HIV. After her PhD, Dr Kara came to Leicester to start her first postdoc in LISCB as part of Cyril Dominguez group. During her postdoc, she will be analysing interactions between splicing proteins and pre-mRNAs using NMR and other binding assays.

  • Dr. Vasileios Paschalis

    Vasilis was born in Larissa, Greece. He completed his BSc in Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Thessaly, Greece. Then he moved to the UK where he obtained MSc in Applied Biomolecular Technology, at The University of Nottingham. In 2010, he moved back to Greece for his military service. ..

    He then worked as a clinical biochemist in a private hospital. In 2013 he returned to the UK to pursue a PhD in Biochemistry, at the University of Nottingham, under the supervision of Professor Soultanas. After successfully completing his PhD, he worked in various projects at the University of Nottingham, before joining Professor Schwabe’s group at the University of Leicester in August 2017. In October 2020 he joined Professor Eperon’s group.

  • Dr Marina Santana Vega

    Dr Santana Vega is a postgraduate research associate at the James Watt School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow. Originally from Spain, she completed her undergraduate studies in Chemistry at the Complutense University of Madrid. She then received a scholarship to continue her studies in France, where she obtained a master’s degree Summa Cum Laude in Nanophotonics from the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay. ..

    She arrived in the UK in 2015 to work with Dr Fabio Cucinotta at Newcastle University, where she earned her PhD in materials chemistry and photophysics. Her work in Glasgow focusses on nano-scale surface engineering and plasmonics.

  • Dr John Zhao

    John obtained his PhD from King’s College, London, where his supervisor was Professor Colin Reese, FRS. He then took up an NIH postdoctoral fellowship with Marvin Caruthers at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. He worked at Cruachem Ltd.(Glasgow), and a few research fellowships with David Lilley (University of Dundee), Tom Brown (University of Southampton), James Tucker (University of Birmingham), David Hodgson (Durham University) and Evonetix Ltd (Cambridge). ..

    His research interests include oligonucleotide synthesis and applications in biological systems.

  • Dr Andrea Taladriz-Sender

    Andrea Taladriz-Sender is a postdoctoral research associate in Chemical Biology at the Burley group at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow since 2017. She was born and raised in Madrid, Spain, and completed her undergraduate studies in chemistry at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. In 2008 she was awarded with an Erasmus scholarship and joined the group of Professor Floris Rutjes at Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands. ..

    After extending her time in Nijmegen, working in flow chemistry at a Dutch spin-off company, Future Chemistry, she moved back to Madrid to pursue her PhD at the Spanish Research Council (IQOG-CSIC). She obtained her cum laude PhD in 2015 under the supervision of Dr Cristina Vicent exploring DNA- sugar binders, their properties and interactions. After a brief postdoc at the Medicinal Research Institute (IQM-CSIC) in Madrid working on brain radiotracers, she crossed the English Channel and arrived to Cardiff. She joined the group of Dr Niek Buurma at the University of Cardiff for few months and learnt the joys of biophysical analysis. In 2017 she headed up north to Glasgow to make it her new home. Her work in Professor Burley’s group focuses in nucleic acid chemistry, molecular tools to modulate gene expression and bioconjugation.