People
Jenny Gallop
2020 – present: Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
2011 – present: Group Leader, Gurdon Institute
2011 – 2020: Affiliated member, Department of Biochemistry
2006 – 2011: Postdoc and EMBO fellow in laboratory of Marc Kirschner, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
2001 – 2006: PhD and short postdoc in Harvey McMahon’s lab, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK
1997 – 2001: Masters degree in Biochemistry, Trinity College, University of Oxford, UK
Research area: actin polymerisation, membranes, filopodia formation, cell shape, cell movement, signalling to actin, the membrane-cytosol interface
Julia Mason
Position: Lab Manager since the lab started in 2011
Previous positions: At the Gurdon Institute for many years supporting the research of a number of labs
Research area: Molecular biology, cell culture and Xenopus in vivo studies
Jonathan Gadsby
Position: Wellcome Trust Research Associate, joined the lab in January 2015.
Previous positions: BSc Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, Durham University; MRes Newcastle University; PhD and short postdoc in Mette Mogensen’s lab at UEA, Norwich, studying microtubule +TIPs in epithelial differentiation and cancer
Research area: Examining how actin polymerisation is responsive to phosphoinositides and membrane curvature.
Thomas Blake
Position: Wellcome Trust Research Associate, joined the lab in January 2021
Previous positions: BA Natural Sciences and MSci Biochemistry, University of Cambridge; MRes and PhD Imperial College, London, and short postdoc in Jake Baum’s lab studying myosin motors in malaria parasites
Research area: Superresolution and rapid timelapse microscopy in studying filopodial initiation and extension
Pankti Vaishnav
Position: Wellcome Trust PhD student and Research Assistant, joined the lab in July 2020
Previous positions: BSc in Biochemistry, University of Birmingham and MRes in Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, Imperial College, London
Research area: Molecular mechanisms of SNX9-mediated actin polymerisation
Mary-Pia Jeyarajasingham
Position: Gurdon Institute / AstraZeneca PhD Student, joined the lab in September 2022
Previous positions: MSci in Biomedical Sciences, St George’s University of London (2022) with an industrial placement year at GlaxoSmithKline (2019-2020)
Research area: Using novel antibody reagents to probe antigenic function in actin and filopodia
