People in the BEST group
Group Leader
Dr. Róisín M. Owens received her BA in Natural Sciences (Mod. Biochemistry) at Trinity College Dublin, and her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Southampton University. She carried out two postdoc fellowships at Cornell University, on host-pathogen interactions of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the dept. of Microbiology and Immunology with Prof. David Russell, and on rhinovirus therapeutics in the dept. of Biomedical Engineering with Prof. Moonsoo Jin. From 2009-2017 she was a group leader in the dept. of bioelectronics at Ecole des Mines de St. Etienne, on the microelectronics campus in Provence. Her current research centers on application of organic electronic materials for monitoring biological systems in vitro, with a specific interest in studying the gut-brain-microbiome axis. She has received several awards including the European Research Council starting (2011), proof of concept grant (2014) and consolidator (2016) grants, a Marie Curie fellowship, and an EMBO fellowship. In 2014, she became principle editor for biomaterials for MRS communications (Cambridge University Press), and she serves on the advisory board of Advanced BioSystems and Journal of Applied Polymer Science (Wiley). She is author of 60+ publications.
Postdocs
Dr. Charalampos Pitsalidis is a research associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, in the BioElectronic Systems and Technologies group. With a PhD degree in organic electronics, during his postdoctoral research he focused on bridging novel organic electronic devices with biological systems toward next generation in vitro cell culture platforms. In Cambridge, his research involves the development of a 3D gut-on-a-chip device to study the microbiome-gut-brain-axis. Office: room 1.07; E-mail: cp645@cam.ac.uk
Dr. Anna-Maria Pappa is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, in the BioElectronic Systems and Technologies group. She holds a PhD degree in bioelectronics with a focus on biosensing. Her current research interests include the development of in vitro electronic platforms for drug testing, focusing on antibiotics. You can find her in her office (room 1.07) or somewhere in the labs making her microscopic devices! (E-mail: amp206@cam.ac.uk)
Dr. Janire Saez is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, in the BioElectronic Systems and Technologies group. She has a Chemistry degree and she holds a PhD in the integration of smart materials into microfluidic devices for fluidic control and sensing. Her current research interests include the development of “organ-on-a-chip” platforms, focusing in the gut-brain axis. Office: room 1.07; E-mail: js2409@cam.ac.uk
Postgraduate students
Aimie Pavia is a 1st year PhD student at the department of Bioelectronics at the Ecole des Mines de St. Etienne co-funded by Panaxium. Aimie is working on development of novel methods for fabrication of organic bioelectronic devices for interfacing with biological tissues in vitro and in vivo. Email: aimie.pavia@emse.fr
Chrysanthi (Anthie) Moysidou is a 1st year PhD student, in the Bioelectronic Systems Technologies group and her research will focus on developing in vitro models of the gut and brain with integrated monitoring, and studying the way these organs communicate. Office: room 1.07; Email: cmm202@cam.ac.uk
Yash Mishra is a Biochemical Engineering graduate from University College London with 3 years of research experience, which includes 2 years as a Scientist at UCB Celltech, receiving various synthetic biology honours at iGEM, and working at the Surfaces and Particle Engineering Laboratory of Imperial College London. In the BioElectronic Systems and Technologies group at the University of Cambridge Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Yash will be developing dynamic, bio-mimetic, in-vitro models of the gut-brain axis with in-line bioelectronic analytics to study the effects of the microbiome on Alzheimer’s Disease.
Office: Room 1.07; Email: ym354@cam.ac.uk
Walther Traberg-Christensen is a PhD student in the Bioelectronic System Technologies group at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. He received his MSc in Advanced Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology from Imperial College London and his MEng in Chemical Engineering from Lancaster University. Walther is interested in cancer therapeutics research and is using biophysical techniques to study exosomes/oncosomes in a joint project between the BEST group and the BioScience Engineering group. Office: Room 1.07; Email: wt267@cam.ac.uk
Technical support
Aimee Withers is a research laboratory technician. For the past 2 years she has worked as a media technician at CRUK Cambridge Institute. She has joined the BEST group to support cell culture activities. Office: room 1.07; Email: amw209@cam.ac.uk
Visiting students
Priscila Cavassin is a Master's student in Applied Physics at University of São Paulo. She is currently a visitor in the BEST group until March 2019. Her research focuses on the integration of lipid monolayers and bilayers with organic electronic devices. Office: room 1.07; E-mail: pc621@cam.ac.uk
Pablo Rioboó is a Master's student in Translational Research and Personalized Medicine at University of Granada in Spain. He is currently a visitor in the BEST group until April 2019. His research focuses on the design and characterization of conductive scaffolds and hydrogels for mimicking different tissues and their integration within microfluidic devices.
Romane Vallet is a student in the French engineering school Mines de Saint-Étienne specialized in microelectronics and computer sciences, studying biotechnology, she’s a visitor in the BEST group until August 2019. Her research focuses on organic devices such as transistor to develop organ-on-a-chip devices. Office : room 1.07 E-mail : rv339@cam.ac.uk
Former Members
Dr. Donata Iandolo is a Marie-Sklodowska Curie postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. She received her master’s degree in Industrial Biotechnologies at the University of Naples “Federico II” (Italy) and a PhD thesis in Industrial Biotechnologies. She then joined the Soft Matter Nanotechnology Group at the National Nanotechnology Laboratory (CNR-NANO) (Lecce, Italy) and subsequently worked with Prof. Magnus Berggren at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics. Her research focus is mainly on the integration of electroactive biomimetic 3D scaffolds with human stem cells to develop implantable devices for complete bone defects filling.