Previous members
Mehdi Ait Yahia - Postgraduate researcher - PhD 2024
Mehdi completed his PhD in 2024, funded by EPSRC. He is worked on the mechanics of cells and nuclei. He developed analytical models of deformation in phagocytosis and cell migration through constrictions.
Helen Pringle (née Marley) - Postgraduate researcher - PhD 2022
Helen completed her PhD in 2022, funded by the EPSRC CDT in Polymers, Soft Matter and Colloids. She is studied the self assembly of biopolymers in the cytoskeleton in neurons.
Natasha Cowley - Postgraduate & Postdoctoral researcher - PhD 2021
Tash completed her PhD in 2021, funded by EPSRC/CRUK. She was part of a team working on a Cancer Research UK funded project investigating the metastisis of breast cancer cells to bone. She modelled the movement of cells in the complex environments they encounter.
She was then a postdoctoral researcher in the group working on active matter theory 2021-2022.
She moved to a postdoctoral research position at the University of Manchester in 2023.
James Bradford - Postgraduate researcher - PhD 2020
James did his PhD in 2016–2020, funded by the University of Sheffield. He worked on simulations of actin polymerisation and modelling phagocytosis. Our work on the phagocytosis of cryptococcus is in collaboration with Simon Johnston (Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease).
Naruemon Rueangkham - Postgraduate researcher - PhD 2020
Mon did her PhD in 2016–2020, funded by the Royal Government of Thailand. Her thesis is on "Modelling cargo transport and deformation by molecular motors along cytoskeletal filaments". She is currently working as a lecturer in KOSEN - KMITL, Bangkok, Thailand.
Ian Estabrook - Postgraduate researcher - PhD 2018
Ian did his PhD in 2013–2018, funded by EPSRC. Ian's thesis title is "Deformation of cell nuclei".
He is now a postdoc at TU Dresden, Germany.
Antoine Fruleux - Postdoctoral research associate
Antoine joined us from November 2014 until May 2016, funded by EPSRC. He worked mainly on the physical roles of the nucleus in cell migration.
He is now a postdoc in Lyon, France.
Carl Whitfield - Postgraduate researcher - PhD 2015
Carl did his PhD 2012-2015, funded by EPSRC. He did a postdoc at the University of Warwick and is now at the University of Manchester, UK. His thesis title is "Modelling Spontaneous Motion and Deformation in Active Droplets".
Carl's website has more information about him and his work.