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 and next generation sequencing. We work on biomedical systems ranging from mouse embryonic stem cell differentiation to human cell lines to actual cancer patients (chronic lymphocytic leukemia, glioblastoma, breast cancer).

Publications |  Software  | Lab members | Teaching materials | Contacts

Current lab members

Lab head, interested in fundamentals of gene regulation and cell-free DNA based medical tests; teaching enthusiast and open science addict.

  Dr Vladimir Teif

MSD student working on nucleosome repositioning in brain tumours. Interested in bioinformatics and sports enthusiast

–  Clark Correa

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

Seihee Jeong

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

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

Negin Behboodi

Undergraduate researcher, 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

Interested to join as a graduate student or postdoc? Drop us an email and we will see which fellowship options are applicable

Contact us

Previous lab members

Dr Christopher Clarkson, PhD student (2017-2020). Next step: University College London  

Dr Graeme Thorn, postdoctoral fellow (2017-2018). Next step: Queen Mary University of London

Dr Svetlana Gretton, postdoctoral fellow (2017). Currently in University of Suffolk

Dr Ioanna Pavlaki, postdoctoral fellow (2016). Next step: Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz; Currently Senior Editor in Nature Cancer.

Joshua Burton, MSc student (2016). Currently in Oslo Metropolitan University

 Dr Tanvi Sharma, MSc student (2016). Next step: German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg

Navid Shafiei, MSc student (2017). Currently teaches in William De Ferrers School, Chelmsford

Ralph Samarista, Wellcome Trust Summer Student (2018). Currently in Queen’s University Belfast

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.