v.rakyan{at}qmul.ac.uk
Prof Vardhman rakyan
group leader
For his PhD (1999-2002) Vardhman investigated epigenetic inheritance under the supervision of Prof. Emma Whitelaw, University of Sydney, Australia. From 2003-2007, he was a CJ Martin Postdoctoral Fellow at the Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK; where, under the guidance of Dr Stephan Beck, he developed functional genomics tools for genome-wide DNA methylation analyses.
s.marzi{at}qmul.ac.uk
@sj_marzi
dr sarah marzi
post-doctoral researcher
Sarah graduated in Mathematics and Psychology from the University of Freiburg in 2013. She completed her PhD at King’s College London under the supervision of Prof Jonathan Mill in 2017, investigating epigenetic correlates of neuropsychiatric health and disease. Sarah joined the Rakyan lab at the end of 2017 as a post-doc to work on gene-environment interactions in humans and mice and is currently working on projects involving the characterization of human ribosomal DNA as well as methylomic correlates of paternal obesity.
r.seaborne{at}qmul.ac.uk
@RobbySeaborne
DR Robert Seaborne
post-doctoral researcher
Robert graduated from Liverpool John Moores University for BSc and MSc degrees in Sport Science and Nutrition before pursuing a PhD in cellular and molecular physiology. His PhD focussed on the role of DNA methylation in modulating the response of mammalian skeletal muscle during exposures to anabolic and catabolic environmental stress, utilising genomic and wet lab approaches. Robert joined the Rakyan lab in June 2018 and is working on a project identifying environmental stress responses and genetic variation in human ribosomal DNA.
f.rodriguez-algarra{at}qmul.ac.uk
@franrodalg
Mr Francisco Rodriguez Algarra
post-doctoral researcher
Fran hold degrees in Telecommunications Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, and Business Management from the University of Barcelona. In 2014, he obtained a M.Eng. in Sound and Music Computing from Pompeu Fabra University. He obtained his PhD at the Centre for Digital Music of QMUL, focusing on the evaluation of machine learning methods for music classification. He joined the Rakyan in July 2018 as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant, currently conducting computational analyses of mammalian ribosomal DNA.
a.f.danson{at}qmul.ac.uk
@AmyDanson1
Dr Amy danson
post-doctoral researcher
Amy studied Natural Sciences (Biochemistry) at the University of Cambridge (2011-2015) before starting her PhD in the Rakyan lab in October 2015. Her PhD project focussed on the molecular marks of nutritional stress in mice, particularly at ribosomal DNA and included both wet lab and computational analyses. Amy is continuing this work in a postdoc position.
zakaryya.ahmad{at}qmul.ac.uk
Mr Zakaryaa ahmad
phd candidate
Zak joined the lab in 2018 having previously spent his MSc exploring the effects of amyloid beta fibres on the stability of cellular membranes. He now works on elucidating the architecture of ribosomal DNA clusters with a particular interest in the arrangement of rDNA genetic variants
selin.yildizoglu{at}qmul.ac.uk
@selinyildizogl
Ms Selin Yildizoglu
phd candidate
Selin graduated with a BSc in Neuroscience from University College London and an MSc in Neuroscience from King’s College London. Her previous research involved investigating the impact of stress on microglial activity and neurogenesis. Selin joined the Rakyan lab in October 2018 and her PhD project focuses on gene and environment interactions in ribosomal DNA in response to environmental stress occurring at the cellular level.
a.brew{at}qmul.ac.uk
Ms ama brew
research technician
Ama graduated with a BSc in Biomedical Science from Nottingham Trent University in 2016. She then worked for LGC for a year before joining the Rakyan lab in September 2017. She also works in the Lowe lab on a project on DNA methylation in Tetrahymena.
Humboldt
lab mascot
Humboldt graduated from Arctic Explorer School in 1990 before completing a PhD, studying the impact of climate on DNA methylation in his own species, Spheniscus humboldti. He now works as lab mascot for the Rakyan Lab but also enjoys running long-read sequencing in his spare time.