People

Dr Alper Akay
UKRI Future Leaders Fellow / Principal Investigator

I studied Biology at the Middle East Technical University, Turkey and did a MSc in Molecular Biology at the University of Amsterdam. I then moved to Scotland where I did my PhD on RNA-binding proteins and non-coding RNAs in C. elegans at the laboratory of Anton Gartner. During my postdoctoral research with Eric Miska at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, I explored multiple RNA mediated gene regulatory mechanisms including small silencing RNAs, long non-coding RNAs and RNA modifications. I am particularly interested in how RNA regulates essential processes in the cell and how RNA functions as a signalling molecule during developmental processes.

2012 – 2019 Postdoctoral researcher at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge in Eric Miska’s lab
2007 – 2012 PhD at the University of Dundee, Anton Gartner’s lab
2005 – 2007 MSc at the University of Amsterdam
2000 – 2005 BSc at the Middle East Technical University

Dr Aduragbemi Adesina
Senior Research Associate

I studied industrial chemistry at the Federal University of Technology Akure graduating with BTech (Hon) degree. I also had six-month industrial training experience working as a food and drug quality control analyst at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in Nigeria. I undertook an MSc degree in Chemical Biology at Cardiff University and continued at the same university for my doctoral degree after a prestigious international scholarship award. My doctoral training was under the supervision of Prof R.K Allemann and Dr. L.Y.P Luk investigating the physical basis of catalysis of dihydrofolate reductase from different organism including mesophilic, thermophilic and psychrophilic bacteria as well as in humans.
The highlight of my doctoral research was unraveling the often-neglected role of ligand-ligand electrostatic interaction in enzyme catalysis, revealing a comprehensive approach to enzyme catalysis beyond protein dynamics and protein-ligand interactions. I continued in the group as a postdoctoral researcher working on protein-protein interaction using a variety of techniques. Currently, my focus is on investigating the role of RNA modifications in gene expression using C. elegans as a model organism, employing both molecular biology and analytical chemistry techniques.

Publications

– Adesina, A. S., Świderek, K., Luk, L. Y. P., Moliner, V., & Allemann, R. K. (2020). Electric Field Measurements Reveal the Pivotal Role of Cofactor-Substrate Interaction in Dihydrofolate Reductase Catalysis. ACS Catalysis, 10(14), 7907–7914.
– Luk Y.P.L., Ruiz-Pernía J.J, Adesina A.S., Loveridge E.J., Tuñón I, Moliner V, and Allemann K.R (2015). Chemical Ligation and Isotope Labeling to Locate Dynamic Effects During Catalysis by Dihydrofolate Reductase. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,54, 9016–9020
– Olasehinde, E.F., Adesina, A.S., Fehintola, E.O., Badmus, B.M., Aderibigbe, A.D., (2012). Corrosion Inhibition Behaviour for Mild Steel by Extracts of Musa sapientum Peels in HCl Solution: Kinetics and Thermodynamics Study. IOSR J. A. Chem. 2 (6), 15–23

Katarzyna Hencel
PhD Student

I studied at the University of Dundee receiving the Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology. During my studies I carried out several projects in Dr Sarah Coulthurst lab, whose group focuses on studying the type VI secretion system in Serratia marcescens. During my PhD project, I will investigate how metabolism regulates RNA modifications in C. elegans. 

Aykut Shen
PhD Student

I completed my bachelor’s (BSc) program at the University of Dundee, Scotland, in Biological Sciences (Bioinformatics) with a particular interest in bioinformatics. Through the James Black student internship in the Holden Lab at the James Hutton Institute, I had an opportunity to contribute to a project which aimed to improve the new practice of producing foods and medicines, the vertical farms. I completed my honours project in the Simpson Lab in the division of gene regulation and expression focusing on the identification and characterization of non-coding RNAs in the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana. During my PhD, I will study how expression of genes change in the absence of RNA modifications and how we can use sequencing methods to identify modified RNAs.

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Anastasia Li
PhD Student

I completed an integrated MSci degree in Molecular Genetics at King’s College London, where I focused on cancer research and epigenetics. As a part of my 4 year degree, I was able to complete two research projects at Dr Michelle Holland’s Lab, which focuses on epigenetics and post-transcriptional gene regulation research. In the 3^rd year, I validated putative IRES (integrated ribosome entry sites) sequences that are used for maintaining translation under conditions of global translational repression in mice. In the following year, my research focused on elucidating involvement of RNA modyfying machinery in colon cancer. During my PhD, I will be studying paternal inheritance of modified RNAs in C. elegans.