Group leader

  • Professor Marina Kuimova

    Personal details

    Professor of Chemical Physics

    +44 (0)20 7594 8558

    Location

    207B 
    Molecular Sciences Research Hub 
    White City Campus

Postdoctoral Research Associates

  • Dr Jamie Gravell

    Personal details

    Dr Jamie Gravell Postdoctoral Research Associate

    Location

    207 
    Molecular Sciences Research Hub 
    White City Campus

    Affiliations

    Jamie joined the group in September 2024 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Optical Imaging.  His current project focuses on studying the aggregation and liquid-liquid phase separation of α-synuclein, related to Parkinson's disease, using FLIM. This project is co-supervised by Prof. Ramon Vilar and Dr. Francesco Aprile. 

  • Dr Miguel Paez Perez

    Personal details

    Dr Miguel Paez Perez Research Fellow

    Location

    207
    Molecular Sciences Research Hub 
    White City Campus

    Short bio

    After completing his PhD in the group in 2022, since 2024 Miguel became an independent Research Fellow, working at the interface between environment-sensitive fluorescent dyes, DNA nanotechnology, membrane biophysics, and data-driven modelling. His research aims to measure and reprogramme the mechanical features of lipid bilayers to understand fundamental biological processes, develop new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, and contribute to the engineering of synthetic cells. 

  • Dr Petr Sherin

    Personal details

    Dr Petr Sherin Postdoctoral Research Associate

    Location

    207 
    Molecular Sciences Research Hub 
    White City Campus

    Short bio

    Petr joined the group in November 2019 as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow. His project is focused on studying age- and cataract-related changes in the membranes of cells in animal and human eye lenses.

Students

  • Michelle Wong Chap Lan

    Personal details

    Michelle Wong Chap Lan PhD Student

    Location

    207 
    Molecular Sciences Research Hub 
    White City Campus

    Short bio

    Michelle joined the group in October 2023 as an ICB CDT PhD student, co-sponsored by BASF. Her work focuses on developing a multi-complexity approach for monitoring translocation of chemicals in plant leaf, specifically working with viscosity-sensitive molecular rotors, FLIM and complex biological membranes. She is co-supervised by Prof. Nick Brooks (Chemistry) and Dr Markus Rückel (BASF).

  • Tom Mills

    Personal details

    Tom Mills PhD Student

    Location

    301
    Molecular Sciences Research Hub 
    White City Campus

    Short bio

    Tom joined the group in October 2022 as part of the Institute of Chemical Biology. His project explored the novel use of molecular rotors to investigate the inhibition of protein-protein interactions in live cells. He is co-supervised by Dr Anna Barnard and Prof. Bernadette Byrne.

  • Nicole Fitikides

    Personal details

    Nicole Fitikides PhD Student

    Location

    301 
    Molecular Sciences Research Hub 
    White City Campus

    Short Bio

    I joined the group in October 2023 as a PhD student on the Institute of Chemical Biology Centre for Doctoral Training program. My research is focused on developing a new imaging tool for studying the liquid-liquid phase separation of α-synuclein and its role in Parkinson's disease. My project is co-supervised by Dr. Francesco Aprile and Prof. Ramon Vilar.

  • Bronwyn Griffiths

    Personal details

    Bronwyn Griffiths PhD Student

    Location

    301 
    Molecular Sciences Research Hub 
    White City Campus

    Short Bio

    Bronwyn joined the group in October 2023 as an ICB CDT PhD student. Her project focuses on developing optical probes which bind to encoded aptamers for RNA visualisation in live cells. She is co-supervised by Prof. Ramon Vilar (Chemistry) and Prof. David Rueda (Medicine).

  • Cansu Ayabakan

    Personal details

    Cansu Ayabakan PhD Student

    Location

    4th Floor
    Royal School of Mines
    South Kensington Campus

    Affiliations

    Cansu joined the group in October 2025 as an MRes student with the ICB CDT. Her research aims to develop a screening method for characterising the mode-of-action of antifungal chemicals by using microfluidic devices alongside fluorescent staining of fungal cells with molecular rotors. She is sponsored by EPSRC and Syngenta, and co-supervised by Dr Claire Stanley (Bioengineering), Dr Andre Brown (Medicine), Dr Ana Wood (Syngenta), and Dr Mark Johnston (Syngenta).

  • Amaya Macias Alvarez

    Personal details

    Amaya Macias Alvarez MSci Student

    Location

    207 
    Molecular Sciences Research Hub 
    White City Campus

    Short Bio

    Amaya joined the group in October 2026 as an MSci student, working with Dr Jamie Gravell. Her project uses fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to study the aggregation and liquid-liquid phase separation of α-synuclein and its role in Parkinson's disease, with a focus on how mutations alter these processes.

  • Darya Shchukina

    Personal details

    Darya Shchukina MSci Student

    Location

    207
    Molecular Sciences Research Hub 
    White City Campus

    Short Bio

    Darya joined the group in October 2026 for her MSci project working with Dr Jamie Gravell and Dr Miguel Paez Perez. Her project focuses on the application of FLIM to monitor the aggregation of α-synuclein via liquid-liquid phase separation.