About Us

Our Gene Regulation lab is located in the University of Essex in a historic town Colchester. We are interested in quantitative aspects of gene regulation in chromatin using approaches of biophysics, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence and next generation sequencing. We work on biomedical systems ranging from fundamental aspects of cell differentiation and ageing to cancer diagnostics (e.g. chronic lymphocytic leukemia, glioblastoma, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer).

Publications |  Software  | Lab members | Teaching materials | Contacts

Current lab members

Lab head, interested in fundamentals of gene regulation and cell-free DNA based diagnostics

  Dr Vladimir Teif

PhD student working on epigenetic biomarkers of breast cancer, cancers of reproductive system and endometriosis.

PhD student working on cancer diagnostics, focusing on glioblastoma, colorectal cancer, few other diseases and ageing

Negin Behboodi

Associate Fellow, interested in biology of ageing and cancer. Co-lead of the Pint of Science Colchester.

Milena Bikova

MSD student working on glioblastoma, interested in scientific programming, drawing, ballet and more

Amishasingh Beeharry

Profile photo for Ragini

Senior Research Officer, expert in AI and graph theory, impassionate about machine learning, working on diagnostics of pancreatic cancer.

Dr Ragini Kihlman

Are you an undergraduate student from the University of Essex interested to do a research project with us? Email us to discuss (computational work only).

We have a fully funded postdoctoral position in computational analysis of cell-free DNA for cancer diagnostics (details here). Interested to join? Email us your CV and cover letter.

Previous lab members

MSD student working on nucleosome repositioning in brain tumours. Currently works at the NHS

–  Clark Correa

Passionate about the power of machine learning and AI, with a focus on their applications in understanding cancer & aging

Seihee Jeong

Genetics graduate passionate about computational biology, epigenetics and all things science

Luminita Ruje

CTCF fan, working on CTCF’s role in gene expression changes in normal and cancer cells

Dr Hulkar Mamayusupova

MSD student passionate about molecular biology and genomics, working on nucleosomics of cell-free DNA in breast cancer

Divya Rose Jacob

Epigenomics enthusiast, developing cell-free DNA-based assays for liquid biopsy diagnostics 

Mariya Shtumpf

Medical doctor and MSc student, working on diagnostics of lung cancer. Also interested in oral and maxillofacial cancer and athletics aficionado

Ankita Gurjar, MD

MSc student working in nucleosome positioning in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Jesmi Pullely Poulose

Graduated from U of Essex, currently MPhil in the University of Cambridge, working on chromatin changes in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia 

Kristan Piroeva

Enthusiastic postgraduate student, project on the computational analysis of nucleosome repositioning in breast cancer

– Anastasija Drobysevskaja

PhD student passionate about chromatin topology and machine learning; Lacrosse player, Pint of Science co-organiser.

Christopher Clarkson

Genomics aficionado, working on a masters dissertation devoted to nucleosome positioning in glioblastoma

Varvara Koraki Folli

Passionate about machine learning and data science, especially applications to (epi)genomics of ageing”

– Ashkan Mohseni Hosseini

Curiosity-driven individual interested in bioinformatics, genetics and environmental science

– Emma Deeks

An aspiring stem cell researcher interested in bioinformatics and regenerative medicine. Also a music lover and film aficionado

–   Ralph Samarista 

Interested in cancer biology in general and nucleosome repositioning in cancer specifically. 

Christopher Armstrong

Cancer researcher working on a masters dissertation on nucleosome positioning in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia 

Chelsea Fox

UoE graduate and visiting scientist, working on cfDNA to develop liquid-biopsy biomarkers for diagnosis.