Natural Sciences

Sebastian Ahnert (Director of Studies) is a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Theory of Condensed Matter (TCM) group of the Cavendish Laboratory. His research covers several topics, most of which lie on the interface between theoretical physics and biology.

Patrick Bateson, is Emeritus Professor of Ethology in the Zoology Department. He researches the processes that translate genetic and environmental influences into behavioural outcomes.

Michael Bate (Director of Studies) is a Royal Society Research Professor of Developmental Neuroscience. He researches how the machinery underlying coordinated movement is genetically specified and assembled during embryonic development. This involves both analysis of how muscles are assembled, specified and patterned, and investigation of the way in which the neuronal circuits that control movement are generated and begin to function.

Andreas Bender (Director of Studies) is a Lecturer for Molecular Informatics with the Unilever Centre for Molecular Science Informatics. His work relates to virtual screening, the prediction of small molecule properties (such as solubility, logP, pKa) and the integration of biological and chemical data.

Camille Bonvin is a Research Fellow in Theoretical Physics. She works at the Institute of Astronomy and is interested in cosmology, particularly dark energy and modified gravity, weak gravitational lensing, and primordial magnetic fields.

Anne Cooke is the Professor of Immunobiology and runs a research laboratory studying the regulation of autoimmune disease, in particular Type 1 diabetes. Her work focuses on studying factors that influence the development of diabetes, how this disease might be prevented and also treated. Her laboratory also studies tissue repair processes and the ways in which stem cells might be used to replace damaged tissue.

George Efstathiou is a Professor of Astrophysics and Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmology at Cambridge. He has contributed to studies of large-scale structure in the Universe, galaxy formation, dark energy and the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Chris Gilligan is Professor of Mathematical Biology and head of the School of Biological Sciences. He works on disease, studying the invasion, persistence, scale and variability of epidemics within changing agricultural landscapes.

Jules Griffin (Director of Studies) is a University Lecturer in the department of Biochemistry. He is involved in the development of analytical chemistry approaches to monitor metabolism. In particular he has an interest in studying diabetes, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, but is also involved in projects related to cancer and neurodegeneration. See also his group’s website.

Gillian Griffiths is Professor of Cell Biology and Immunology and runs a research laboratory at the Institute for Medical Research. Her main interests are in understanding the cell biology of cytotoxic T cells, which destroy virally infected cells in the body. She studies a number of genetic diseases in which the T cells do not function properly in order to understand how these cells function normally. Her work combines molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics and imaging. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and member of the editorial board of the Journal of Cell Biology and Traffic.

Ben Gripaios is a Lecturer in Theoretical Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory. A particle physicist, his research focuses on the search for new physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment at CERN in Geneva. Much of his work is done in tandem with experimentalists, devising methods to discover and measure the properties of any physics beyond the so-called 'Standard Model'. He also works on building mathematical models to describe new physics, using data from the LHC and other particle physics experiments, as well as data from astrophysical observations.

Barry Keverne is a Professor in the Department of Zoology. He uses molecular genetic techniques to examine brain development and function.

Richard Lambert heads the Surface Science and Catalysis Research Group in the Chemistry Department. Current research includes photocatalysis, harvesting sunlight for hydrogen production, surface-mounted molecular machines, enantioselective and chemoselective reactions, two-dimensional molecular self-assembly, biomimetically-inspired catalytic systems, heterogeneous chemistry of tropospheric mineral aerosols and quantum size effects in metallic nanoparticles.

Sarah Lummis is a fellow in Biochemistry. She works on the molecular characterisation of neurotransmission-gated ion channels (which are involved in the rapid chemical transmission of nerve impulses at synapses).

Dan McKenzie is a Professor of Earth Sciences interested in geophysics, geodynamics and tectonics. He has a current project on the structure of planetary lithospheres and the generation of melt.

Richard Merrill is a Research Fellow in evolutionary biology at King's. He is interested in genetics and the evolution of new species, and specialises in the genetics of the Heliconius cydno and Heliconius melpomene Butterfly species.

David Munday (Director of Studies) is an experimental particle physicist at the European Laboratory at CERN, Geneva. He is a founder member of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, and leader of the British team in NA48, looking at antimatter differences in kaon particles. He is now working on developing a proposal to continue using this apparatus to measure extremely rare decays of kaons.

Elizabeth Murchison is a Research Fellow studying the genetics and evolution of clonally transmissible cancers. She works particularly on Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) and canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT), which are the only known naturally occurring tumours that are spread between individuals by the transfer of viable cancer cells.

Ben Phalan is Zukerman Junior Research Fellow at King's. He researches the impact of agriculture on tropical faunas.

Suchitra Sebastian is a Research Fellow in Physics. She is studying quantum magnets and heavy fermion systems. See the detailed description of her contributions.

Rob Wallach is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. He is interested in the joining of materials: understanding the basic science and also optimising approaches for new materials. Potential applications include aircraft engine turbine blades, car bodies, and electronic components.

Tom White is a retired University Lecturer in Physics. He worked for forty years in experimental high-energy particle physics at major accelerator laboratories in America and Europe, with interests including rare decays of particles produced in proton-anti-proton collisions. At the Cavendish Laboratory from 1976, he lectured in nuclear, quantum, particle and atomic physics and supervised at various times all the first second, and third year physics courses for King's students as well as specialist courses in the fourth year. In retirement he has studied ancient Greek epic and lyric poetry, and in connection with field trips, ancient sites and the topography of Greece.