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

Associate Fellow, interested in biology of ageing and cancer. Co-lead of the Pint of Science Colchester.
MSD student working on glioblastoma, interested in scientific programming, drawing, ballet and more
Senior Research Officer, expert in AI and graph theory, impassionate about machine learning, working on diagnostics of pancreatic cancer.
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

Passionate about the power of machine learning and AI, with a focus on their applications in understanding cancer & aging
Genetics graduate passionate about computational biology, epigenetics and all things science
CTCF fan, working on CTCF’s role in gene expression changes in normal and cancer cells
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

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

Enthusiastic postgraduate student, project on the computational analysis of nucleosome repositioning in breast cancer
PhD student passionate about chromatin topology and machine learning; Lacrosse player, Pint of Science co-organiser.
Genomics aficionado, working on a masters dissertation devoted to nucleosome positioning in glioblastoma
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.
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.