Natural Sciences (Biological)

How the machinery underlying coordinated movement is assembled during embryonic development.

Dr Shannon Bonke is a renewable energy scientist researching catalysts for energy conversion and storage reactions, especially the synthesis of fuels from solar power. His research is interdisciplinary and explores catalytic mechanisms using complementary cutting-edge electrochemical and spectroscopic techniques.

Professor Efstathiou has wide interests in theoretical and observational cosmology and has contributed to studies of large-scale structure in the Universe, galaxy formation, dark energy and the cosmic microwave background radiation. He is a member of the Science Team for the European Space Agency Planck Satellite, launched in May 2009, which is mapping the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave backround to unprecedented precision.

Sebastian is a geneticist, and Head of the Plant-Parasite Interactions group, with an interest in the genes that control a dialogue between kingdoms of life: the two-way molecular communication between plants and their parasites. He develops understanding from the position that the two organisms are one interlinked entity, studying the biology of the entire host-parasite complex. He uses genetics to dissect the communication between the two organisms, to understand how evolution drives novel forms and functions, through a development-altering relationship, that is phylogenetically and geographically widespread.

Recent highlights from the lab exemplify the fascinating biology of the study system, the connectedness of the kingdoms, and the central thesis that the two organisms are best studied when considered as one entity. The lab showed that: i) host and parasite each contribute to the cross-kingdom synthesis of Vitamin B5, defining the hologenome theory of susceptibility-gene discovery (Siddique et al., 2022, Nature Communications); ii) the nematode has evolved a novel form of precisely guided somatic genome editing to generate thousands of new transient effector alleles (Sonawala et al., 2024, Cell Genomics); and iii) that the nematode mobilises and ingests parts of the plant genome during infection (Ko et al., 2023 Molecular Biology and Evolution).

Selected recent publications:

U. Sonawala, H. Beasley, P.J. Thorpe, K. Varypatakis, B. Senatori, J.T. Jones, L. Derevnina, and S. Eves-van den Akker* (2024). “A gene with a thousand alleles: the HYPer-variable effectors of plant-parasitic nematodes.” bioRxiv 10.1101/2023.10.16.561705 – In press Cell Genomics.

C.A.M Marshall, M.T. Wilkinson, P.M. Hadfield, S.M. Rogers, J.D. Shanklin, ...S. Eves-van den Akker. (2023). “Urban wildflower meadow planting for biodiversity, climate and society: An evaluation at King's College, Cambridge” Ecological Solutions and Evidence 4(2), e12243.

S. Siddique, Z.S. Radakovic, C. Hill., C. Pellegrin, T.J. Baum, H. Beasley, O. Chitambo , D. Chopra, E.G.J. Danchin, E. Grenier, S.S. Habash, M.S. Hasan, J. Helder, T. Hewezi, J. Holbein, M. Holterman, S. Janakowski, G.D. Koutsovoulos, O.P. Kranse, J.L. Lozano-Torres, T.R. Maier, R.E. Masonbrink, B. Mendy, E. Riemer, M. Sobczak, U. Sonawala, M.G. Sterken, P. Thorpe, J.J.M. van Steenbrugge, N. Zahid, F. Grundler, and S. Eves-van den Akker*. (2022). The genome and lifestage-specific transcriptomes of a plant-parasitic nematode and its host reveal susceptibility genes involved in trans-kingdom synthesis of vitamin B5. Nature Communications. 13, 6190. 

Axon regeneration in the Central Nervous System; plasticity and recovery from nervous system damage; the CNS injury response; a peripheral nerve repair prosthesis; clinical trials protocols for spinal cord injury.

Spatial and temporal models for soil-borne plant disease, non-linear estimation, complexity and simplicity in modelling biological systems.

Cell Biology and Immunology

Iris Hardege is a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the Department of Zoology, where she is interested in understanding how complex behaviours arise from anatomically different brain structures across the animal kingdom. Currently her research predominately focusses on the study of the surprising complexity of neurotransmitters and their receptors in the model organism C. elegans, and how they contribute to the generation of complex behaviours such as learning.

Iris completed her PhD in Medicine at the University of Cambridge in 2017 under the supervision of Dr Kevin O'Shaughnessy, where she studied potassium channels in the adrenal gland and their contribution to rare genetic forms of hypertension. She then went on to do postdoctoral work at the MRC LMB with Dr William Schafer to study ion channel receptors in C. elegans. In 2023 Iris started her own group at the Department of Zoology funded by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship.

Professor Keverne has long standing experience in behavioural neuroscience and has, in the past 10 years, brought molecular genetic techniques to focus on brain development and investigate how genetic perturbations of the brain influence brain function. In particular he has employed androgenetic and parthenogenetic chimeras to understand how the imprinted genome influences brain development and has extensively investigated the adult phenotype of mice carrying a mutation in paternally expressed genes. These studies have led to a co-adaptive evolutionary theory of brain and placental development through genomic imprinting. Pheromonal influences on behaviour and endocrine responses in mice is also a long standing interest and in recent years, together with Piers Emson, he has investigated pheromonal signalling via Erk and Akt phosphorylation to enhance vomeronasal neural regeneration survival.

Research: Development of new heterogeneously-catalyzed routes relevant to organic synthesis especially with respect to the production of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Energy-related applications of catalysis, including high temperature fuel cells. Molecular self-assembly, chiral systems and enantioselective catalysis. Plasma-driven catalysis, nanoarchitectures for sensing and catalytic applications. New materials for hydrogen storage. Studies of high-energy helium and hydrogen ion implantation in alloys relevant to the operation of thermonuclear reactors. A wide range of experimental conditions are used ranging from single crystal surfaces in ultra high vacuum to nanoparticle systems in liquids under high pressure.

Research: Molecular characterisation of neurotransmitter-gated ion channels.

Nile is the Roger Evans and Aey Phanachet Research Fellow in Co-evolution and Symbiosis. He is based in the Department of Zoology. His research broadly encompasses understanding how ecosystems change in time and space. In his fellowship, Nile will be focussing on how the ecological dynamics of coral reefs change as they experience the effects of climate change. In his work, he uses a range of mathematical models and field techniques to assess whole-ecosystem processes on coral reefs in the Seychelles, integrating spatial maps of coral reefs, behavioural data on sharks, and environmental data. A key aspect of his work is disentangling the drivers of ecosystem stability, and seeking to understand the fundamental properties that contribute towards stable states in ecology. He is also interested in how ecosystems have changed through deep time, particularly focusing on critical transitions in evolutionary history such as the evolution of animals.

Nile studied at Aberystwyth University and the University of Exeter before his PhD at the University of Cambridge (St. Catharine’s College), which he completed in 2025.

Marco’s primary research interest lies at the interface between action and spatial cognition. He is interested in understanding how animals construct mental representations of space and use these to guide their actions. His work has uncovered the organisational principles of spatial-motor representations in the brain1 and the logic governing sensory-motor alignment2. More broadly, his research has begun to highlight the integral role of motor circuits in shaping both perceptual and cognitive processes and to define the molecular identity of the neural populations involved.

Marco’s additional significant contributions include advancements in the field of motor control3 and the development of methods to map and manipulate neural circuits4.

He leads a research group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and he has been the recipient of Starting and Consolidator ERC grants.

Selected Publications:

1.       Masullo, L., Mariotti, L., Alexandre, N., Freire-Pritchett, P., Boulanger, J., Tripodi, M., 2019. Genetically Defined Functional Modules for Spatial Orienting in the Mouse Superior Colliculus. Current Biology 29, 2892-2904. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.07.083

2.       González-Rueda, A., Jensen, K., Noormandipour, M., de Malmazet, D., Wilson, J., Ciabatti, E., Jisoo, K., Williams, E., Poort, J., Hennequin, G., and Tripodi, M., 2024.  Kinetic features dictate sensorimotor alignment in the superior colliculus. Nature 631, 378–385 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07619-2

3.       Tripodi, M., Stepien, A.E., Arber, S., 2011. Motor antagonism exposed by spatial segregation and timing of neurogenesis. Nature 479, 61–66. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10538

4.       Ciabatti, E., González-Rueda, A., Mariotti, L., Morgese, F., Tripodi, M., 2017. Life-Long Genetic and Functional Access to Neural Circuits Using Self-Inactivating Rabies Virus. Cell 170, 382-392.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2017.06.014