MACKAY & MATTHEWS LAB

Protein structure, function and engineering

Past Lab members

Dr Mohammadreza Nassiri

Sabbatical visitor from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in Iran – here to learn some protein structure and design in Joel’s lab.

Jessica Zhong

2017-20. Just-finished PhD student with Joel who pioneered chromatin remodelling assays and was chief nucleosome wrangler. Now postdocing with Sandro.

Eve Borbilas

Hons student working in Joel’s lab on transcription factor PTMs – ably supervised by Ingrid and Kim.

Kayesh Fairley

1999.
Honours student with Joel. Fishy character from Chemistry. Went to do Medicine.

Craig Plambeck

2000.
Medical student with undying interest in RNA-binding proteins.

Manu Dubin

2002.
Honours student with Jacqui. Please disregard Chu surfing the web in background.

Angela Nikolic

2009-2024. Structural biology lab manager (the person who *really* runs the lab), confidante, hustler (watch out if you are a sales rep) and more. After doing a fantastic job for 15 years, and seeing several hundred lab members pass through, she has moved across the railway tracks to give a local startup company (Gelion) the benefit of her expertise and experience.

Dr Jason Low

3013-2022. Longtime postdoc in the Mackay lab – frequently consulted as the oracle of cloning, not to mention mass spectrometry… Some would say he ran the joint. Now spreading his biotech wings with Insamo – an mRNA display startup co-started up by collaborator Toby Passioura.

Dr Hakimeh Moghaddas Sani

2015-2022. First visiting PhD student, then visitor, then research assistant working on numerous projects, from the design of new insecticides that are safer and more selective to mechanisms of chromatin remodelling. Now moved one floor down, so nice to still see her around!

Dr Ngaio Smith

2014-2022. Hons and PhD student and then postdoc with Jacqui. Has finally managed to escape – across the road to work in the synthetic biology space (very hip!) with Peter Rutledge.

Dr Chandrika Deshpande

2018-22. Membrane protein crystallography aficionado who worked with Joel on a collaboration with Prof Michael Kassiou to design new modulators of P2X proteins.

Charlotte Franck

2018-2022. PhD student and then postdoc working with Richard Payne in Chemistry and partly in collaboration with Joel. Key member of the Payne lab outpost that we’ve established in our lab space. Skillfully walked the line between being a chemist and a biochemist! Now in the real world of biotech, just down the road at AbCellera!

Kim Woollett

2019-2023. PhD student with Joel who made the jump from membrane proteins to transcription factors (and their PTMs) – very sensible! Now with CRISPR experience up her sleeve and looking to unleash it on other labs! Starting nearby with Mark White at USyd.

Natasha Jones

2019-2023. Hons student and then research assistant working with Joel on a collaborative project with Alyson Ashe – on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Also had a partner who was handy with a 3D printer (thank you for my CHD4-bound nucleosome!). Now showing them how it’s done at Monash, working with Qi Zhang and Chen Davidovich on the PRC2 complex.

Aston Buffier

2023. Research assistant working with Joel on safer insecticides (*and* kept the lab stocks up to scratch). Left to embark on a PhD with Ann.

Jessica Carter

2022-3. Research assistant working with Joel to make safer and more selective insecticides.

Kayesh Fairley

1999.
Honours student with Joel. Fishy character from Chemistry. Went to do Medicine.

Craig Plambeck

2000.
Medical student with undying interest in RNA-binding proteins.

Manu Dubin

2002.
Honours student with Jacqui. Please disregard Chu surfing the web in background.

Elmer Ker

2003.
Honours student with Joel and martial dancer (capoeira). After the army in Singapore, started a PhD in the US.

Melissa Williams

2003.
Honours student with Jacqui. Became a clinical research associate.

Nicki Norris

2003.
Honours student with Joel. Did PhD with Jenny Potts in York.

Fiona Power

2003.
Research Assistant with Joel – seems to like the Irish rugby team.

Cow

1997-2004.
Experiment in mammalian dessication.

Dr Jason Kahn

2003-2004.
Sabbatical visitor. Prof. at U. Maryland.

Belinda Sharpe

1998-2004.
PhD student with Joel. Gone to places afar. Now works for Wellcome in London.

Dr Ed Cram

1999-2004.
PhD student with Jacqui. Remarkable hair transformations a specialty. Now with regulatory body in Canberra.

Daniel Gorman

2004.
Honours student with Dave/Joel (generally appears more 3-dimensional). Went on to do medicine.

Eva Chen

2004.
Honours student with Joel. Quiet (very).

Dr Raina Simpson

2000-2005.
BSc Hons and PhD student with Joel. Worked as a scientist in industry and now with a scientific supplier.

Dr Felix Kobus

2003-4.
Postdoctoral fellow with Joel, troublemaker. Now involved in science education.

Dr Janet Deane

2000-2005.
BSc Hons and PhD with Jacqui. Thoughtful. Now running a lab in Cambridge.

Dr Michael Swanton

2000-2005.
PhD student with Joel. Now working at Apollo Life Sciences.

Amy Nancarrow

2003-5.
BSc Hons and Research Assistant with Jacqui. Hairy. Working for a volunteer agency in Edinburgh.

Dr Sharon Pursglove

2003-5.
Post-doctoral fellow with Joel. Multitasking as a mother and a researcher at the Victor Chang Cardiac Res. Inst.

Yun-Si Lim

2005.
Honours student with Dave. Now working at the Garvan.

Dr Belinda Westman

1999-2003,2006.
PhD student and postdoc with Joel. Part of the lab basketball phase. Briefly institutionalized (VCCRI) – now recovered. Had a few years eating haggis at U. Dundee and now working for NHMRC in Canberra.

Dr Daniel Ryan

2001-6.
PhD student with Jacqui. Part of the lab basketball phase. Postdoced in Dundee and now at ANU in Canberra (can you see a link?) – and collaborating with Joel!

Cy Jeffries

2003-6.
PhD student with Jacqui. Mysterious. Now working in France at the synchrotron in Grenoble.

Victoria Mitchell

2006.
BSc Honours student witih Jacqui. Paintballer – watch out… Now working as a research assistant at the Kolling Institute.

Will D’Avigdor

2006.
BSc Honours student with Dave. Mad scientist in the making.

Jaimee Duncan

2005-6.
BSc Honours student + research assistant with Jacqui. Nutbush specialist.

Vanessa Craig

2006.
BSc Honours student with Jacqui. Call me Paris.

Mats Gurkansson

2007.
Undergraduate from Sweden, worked with Joel. Another one for our Scandanavian collection!

Alex Djamirze

2007.
BSc Honours student with Jacqui. Ice hockey master (a bit unseasonal for Sydney, normally).

Melinda Tan

2007.
BSc Honours student with Joel. Helping to look after Chu Kong.

Wilfred Leung

2007.
BSc Honours student with Joel. Worked in two labs at the same time!

Sheng Hua

2007.
BSc Honours student with Dave.

Dr Chu Wai Liew

2001-9. PhD student with Joel and postdoctoral associate with Jacqui. Likes jelly rolls. Now postdoc-ing in Dunedin (Brrr!) with Catherine Day.

Dr Tony Blake

2009. Research assistant – worked in our lab as part of his world tour!

Dr Molly Clifton

2004-9. PhD student with Joel. Call me Imelda (or Jeannie – or mom x 2).

Antoine Hocher

2009. Undergrad. from France getting a taste of life in the Sunde lab.

Anne Trinh

2007-8.
summer student with Joel and general livewire.

Dr Chu Kong Liew

1998-2002, 2006-8.
PhD student with Joel. Postdoc-ed with Rob Clubb at UCLA, came back, went to VCCRI – like a yo-yo…

Laura Glockner

2007-8.
Undergraduate from Germany; worked with Margie and contracted appendicitis (not related).

Dr Chris Lee

2003-2008.
Ex. PhD student with Jacqui. Acronymic – NMR, SAXS…

Dr Sally Eaton

2002, 2007-8.
Hons student (with Joel and Dave) and postdoctoral associate (with Jacqui). Off to Old Blighty… Now back in Sydney in Cath Suter’s lab at the Victor Chang.

Dr Fionna Loughlin

2004-8.
PhD student with Joel. Now postdocing in Zurich with Fred Allain.

Kim Tieu

2008.
BSc Honours student with Jacqui.

Paul Vukašin

2007-8.
BSc Hons. student and research assistant with Margie/Ann. Working hard on unicycle juggling (and hydrophobins) – and now dentistry.

Dr Richard Grant

2006-9. Postdoctoral associate with Joel. Shady, and undisputed master of dad jokes. Now working for Faculty of 1000.

Kate Grant

2006-9. Inaugural Lab Manager. Made good cakes (valuable)!

Dr Dave Gell

2000-2009. Wellcome Postdoc Fellow, ARC Postdoc Fellow (with Joel), ARC Research Fellow. Set records at Lorne for fastest fun run and smallest poster. Now introducing PIs at U. Tasmania to the joys of protein science and structural biology. Sorely missed…

Claire Dickson

2009. BSc Hons student with Dave. Has headed for UTas to help start up Dave’s lab as a PhD student.

Ki Lim Kim

2009/10. Undergrad. summer student working with Joel and Siavoush.

Beeke Weinert

2009/10. Undergrad. from Germany working with Jacqui. Already in on the lab football!

Edward Chan

2009/10. Undergrad. TSP student working with Jacqui, under Flyp and Sandra’s able guidance.

A/Prof. Siavoush Dastmalchi

2009-10. Sabbactical visitor from the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran – here for some serious structural biology.

Dr Marc Jones

Research associate with Jacqui, by way of Brisbane, Cleveland and Glasgow.

Arwen Cross

2007-10. PhD student with Jacqui. Bushwalker extraordinaire.

Yvanka de Soysa

2010. Undergraduate from Smith College in the US who worked with Jacqui.

A/Prof. David Segal

2010. Collaborator visiting from deep in the agricultural heart of the US – UC Davis (note wheat in background). We are hoping to get him back…

Maryam Hamzehee

2010. PhD student with Siavoush Dastmalchi in Iran. On a six-month visit to sample Mackay lab life in Sydney.

Dr Josep Font-Sadurni

2007-10. Postdoctoral associate with Joel and adventure racer. Now a membrane crystallographer with Mika Jormakka.

Dr Sandra Wissmueller

2008-10. Postdoctoral associate with Jacqui. Has moved up in the world (to the 7th floor).

Paula Watson

2010. BSc Hons student with Jacqui. Banana bender.

Stace Weisbrodt

2010. BSc Hons student with Joel. Ultimate frisbee afficianado.

Ruvini Fernando

2010. BSc Hons student with Liza. Went out to the wild west (UWS) with Liza to do a PhD.

Line Bang

2009 and 2010. Danish postgraduate student. Came in 2009 and liked it so much she came back for more! Main job was to keep Sarah out of mischief.

Oscar Ljungqvist

2010. Undergraduate from Lund University working with Liza. We had quite a Scandanavian collection while he and Line were here!

Kylie Loh

2009-10. Hons with Jacqui and RA with Margie. Headed to Jamie R’s lab at Monash.

Dr Robyn Mansfield

2005-10. Hons and PhD with Joel. After a period in Pharmacology at USyd, has moved to Nick Dixon’s lab in Wollongong (with a fellowship!).

Dr Mugda Bhati

2005-10. Hons and PhD with Jacqui. Moved to Melbourne to be closer to the synchrotron.

Tony Rey

2009-10. Undergrad. from France – the French connection in Margie’s lab.

Sarah Carman

2010. USyd undergrad on a summer scholarship with Liza. One of those chemist types we wish we had more of!

Dr Sock Yue Thong

2006-11. BSc Hons and PhD student with Joel. Has undying devotion to Singapore Airlines, a liking for new kits and an unhealthy fascination with seamonkeys. Now with Gijsbert Grotenbreg at National University of Singapore.

Nina Ripin

2011. Undergraduate from Germany in Jacqui’s lab. Worked like a demon – and was justly rewarded!

Vince Cheung

2011. BSc Hons student with Joel. Off learning how to fix your teeth now!

Fiona Naughton

2011. USyd undergrad who stayed on for more after a summer scholarship with Joel. Closet kiwi (don’t tell anyone she supports the ABs).

Clara Shen

2011. Second year summer student with Joel. Our Pebblepad professional.

Dr Liza Cubeddu

2005-2010. PI and Sydney Protein Group dynamo! Now installed at UWS.

Dr Kaavya Krishna Kumar

2007-12. PhD student with Dave – with Joel as surrogate supervisor. Wicked cross-court forehand (as Joel can attest – note to self: must hit more to her backhand…). Now taking the plunge into the membrane with Jacqui Gulbis at WEHI.

Dr David Jacques

2011-12. Postdoc with Jacqui. Worked his way up to the NMR lab via the X-ray lab. Gone to sunny Cambridge – to the hallowed LMB – on a CJ Martin Fellowship for more crystallography.

Dr Carsten Minten

2012. Postdoc with Joel. Came on a brief but very productive mouse-related mission.

Mattias Brofelth

2012. Swedish Masters student with Joel. Nailed those NuRD pulldowns!

Cuong Nguyen

2008-12. PhD student with Joel. Pipetted for three. Postdocing with Paul Curmi at UNSW.

Tom Drury

2011-2. BSc Hons and RA with Jacqui. Never has anyone been so pleased to see a gel shift work! Off to Cambridge for a PhD with Ernest Laue.

Elise Laming

2012. RA with Joel. Added extra cheer to the lab. Now doing a PhD with Daniela Stock at the VCCRI.

Dr Margie Sunde

2002-2011. PI. Queen of amyloid. Now taken up a full academic position in the Dept of Pharmacology (which seems to require scuba gear on a regular basis!).

Vanessa Morris

2008-11. PhD student with Margie. Justin <3 Ness. Finished (2012) and departed for Germany for a postdoc with Bernd Reif on solid-state NMR.

Jane Ren

2009-11. MSc student with Margie – another amyloid convert. Also gone to Pharmacology.

Dr Paula Vaz

2006-12. Postdoc and PhD student with Joel. Liable to knock you down (if you’re a splicing factor, that is). One of our few ESFJs…

Jack Sheppard

2012. Undergrad student from Oxford who spent a couple of months with Jacqui.

Morgan Gadd

2007-2013. PhD student with Jacqui. “The Interceptor” on the basketball court! Headed off to Dundee for a structural postdoc (after a brief sojourn in Cambridge) with Alessio Ciulli.

Alexii Ilinykh

2012-3. Hons and RA with Sue Clark and Joel. Heading off to Monash for a PhD with Nadia Rosenthal.

Mitch O’Connell

PhD student with Joel. Drumming for the Zinc Fingers. Handed in, and headed off – to Berkeley to work with Jennifer Doudna on RNA-binding proteins (for a change).

Hinnerk Saathoff

2013. Hockey playing Master’s student from Germany who came and made huge progress on the NuRD complex work. Are hoping Germany will send us some more like him!

James Wong

2012-3. Undergrad technical assistant for 2012. Following the path started by Paul many years ago…

Craig Coorey

2013. Undergrad TSP student in Joel’s lab – also entrusted to Ana’s care.

Dr Eija Lehtomäki

2007-13. PhD student and postdoc with Joel (and Sandro). The Finn with the killer spike on the volleyball court! Now handed in and back from a rest in Tahiti…to take up the zinc finger gauntlet again.

Saad Alqarni

2009-13. PhD student with Joel. Came, played great indoor football, nailed some crystal structures and left us for an academic position in Saudi Arabia. We are hoping for some ongoing collaboration.

Michael Webster

2012-3. BSc Hons student + RA with Joel. Won ‘longest commute’ award by quite some distance…! Moved on to a PhD in Cambridge with Lori Passmore.

Herman Fung

2012-3. BSc Hons student + RA with Jacqui. A year of being looked after by Flyp didn’t put him off! Moved on to a PhD with Fred Antson in York.

Amanda Blythe

2013. PhD student from Alice Vrielink’s lab way over in Perth. Left her husband – temporarily at least – to get some SELEX and protein characterization work done over here. Things went pretty well and she is now writing up (having just solved a crystal structure too!).

Clare Cullen

2013. BSc Hons student with Jacqui. Showing off our new line in off-the-shoulder labcoats.

Tanya Estephan

2013. BSc Hons student with Jacqui. Wase subjected to Flyp’s rigorous Hons student training program (although I think she’s eased back on the waterboarding these days).

Reece Adler

2013. BSc Hons student with Joel. Navigated with Katschi the labyrinth of deep sequencing data output (and provided us with cost-price plumbing supplies).

Jesse Wark

2013. BSc Hons student with Nick. Survived being a summer student with Dorothy – that’s something to put on your CV.

Annika Majoros

2013. Undergraduate student who did a TSP project with Joel and Jason. Took the first steps in a new project in the lab and did well.

Dylan Rausch

2013-4. Visited Australia for a year and wanted to do some science – who can blame him?!

Antonia Zech

2013-4. Masters student from Hamburg. Came for some surfing and science (not necessarily in that order).

Dr Marylène Vandevenne

2010-14. Postdoc with Joel – our first Belgian! Her optimism is sorely missed. Now starting her own group back in Belgium.

Dr Katerina Bendak

2010-14. PhD student and postdoc with Joel. Made a huge contribution to the biology side of the lab. Now postdocing in a cancer lab at UNSW, putting those new skills to some good.

Andy Law

2013-4. BSc Hons student with Nick over in fume hood world.

Sam Choi

2013-4. BSc Hons student with Ann. Also a jazz piano aficionado – fitted right in!

Manar Shahib

2014. Masters student from Lund in Sweden. Came on a recommendation from Mattias!

Isabella Gurgel

2014. Undergraduate from Brazil in Joel’s lab who came to further boost the Portuguese-speaking community in the Struct. Biol. division.

Stephen Phan

2014. Second year TSP student working with Katschi – becoming a qPCR expert.

Dr Blanka Pekarova

2014. Sabbatical visitor from the Central European Institute of Technology in teh Czech Republic.

Cherry Kwong

2014. BSc Hons student with Joel. Had the best first name in the lab.

Tamia Nguyen

2014. Third year undergraduate student working with Jason. A summer scholarship addict (she had two last summer…)!

Soumya Joseph

2008-14. BSc Hons and PhD student with Jacqui. Chief mischief-maker and Bjork impersonator. Now working in sunny Canberra.

Sarah Webb

2009-14. BSc Hons PhD student with Joel. Spent half of her Hons year held together with sports tape. EM pioneer.

Armando Alcazar

2014. Second year PhD student at Guanajuato University in Mexico. Came for 6 months to work with Joel – and make lots of friends!

Priya Thaivalappil

2014. Research assistant with Joel – moved all the way from Level 7 to join the lab!

Kyle Webster

2014-5. Summer visitor from NZ working with Joel. Was lured from finance to biotech.

Manan Shah

2014-5. Summer student with Jacqui. Bravely came over from UNSW for his summer research experience!

Dr Nick Shepherd

2011-4. PI (ARC DECRA Fellow) – came by way of the IMB and Tokyo U. A real, live chemist! Knew things like which end of a rotovap you put the sample in… Now returned to UQ.

Gabrielle York

2014-5. Undergraduate student who worked with Joel and Mario on the mammalian cell expression work.

Krystal Lester

2011-2015. PhD student with Jacqui. Netball queen. Liked Hons so much, she decided to stay. Joined a scientific supplier.

Ida Lindström

2015. Swedish Masters student who worked with Joel and Jason.

Efe Isilak

2015. Undergraduate student from Bilkent University in Ankara working in Joel’s lab. A real young Turk.

Courtney Winning

2015. BSc Hons student with Joel and Mario. Bravely came up from Canberra for Hons.

Chayenne Ghazi

2015-6.Dutch student studying to be a lab technician. Had one-year placement with Joel/Jason and made herself indispensible!

Queenie Cat

2002-2016. Technical assistant [small animal handling].

Jack Stewart

2015. Undergraduate summer student in Jacqui’s lab.

Mahli Kumarasinhe

2015. Undergraduate summer student who worked with Joel and Steph.

Anna Gotis-Graham

2015. Undergraduate summer student who worked with Joel and Jason.

Lisa Cecchi

2015. Intern from INSA in France, working with Ann. She didn’t provide the fresh croissants for morning tea we were hoping for…

Mégane Petitmangin

2015. Masters student at AgroParisTech – here for an internship with Jacqui. That’s la Tour Eiffel in the background…

Samantha Walker

2015. Undergraduate exchange student from the University of Edinburgh, all the way over in bonny Scotland.

Dr Jason Schmidberger

2015-6. Postdoc with Joel. Stepped into Ana’ shoes – with the EM, rather than the baby rearing – and now has returned to his WA homeland.

Paul Solomon

2016. Undergraduate TSP student working with Joel and Taylor (and previously in 2015 with Ana). Was thrown into structure determination at the deep end!

Ninnie Wybrands

Masters student from Sweden working with Joel and Mario. Following in Mattias, Manar and Ida’s footsteps from Lund to Sydney.

Ivan Nisevic

2008-16. PhD student with Jacqui. From Serbia – Joel’s Croatian heritage made lab soccer interesting. Did it tough for a while at the end but got there!

Paul Setiyaputra

2008-… PhD student with Joel. Definitely had the tidiest desk in the lab…and a mean bass guitar. Chose another path mid-way through and doing well.

Jake Saunders

2016. Summer student with Joel and Mario – all the way from sunny Brisbane.

Diren Reddy

2016. Summer student with Jacqui and Ngaio.

Matt Majoub

2016-7. BSc Hons student working with Ann in 2016. Staying on for a few months in 2017.

Alain André

2017. MSc student working with Joel and Jason – coming all the way to us from Radboud University in the Netherlands.

Dr Biswa Mohanty

2015-6. Visiting long-distance postdoctoral collaboratorand NMR whizz from Monash. Came to get some instruction from Ingrid on wet lab work.

Javaid Jabbar

2017. Visiting undergraduate student from Bilkent University in Turkey. Worked with Joel and Maryam (well, Maryam, really).

Dr Philippa Stokes

2002-17. Über-postdoc with Jacqui. No longer sponsored by Donut King…

Dorothy Wai

2011-17. Hons and PhD student with Joel. Was chief lab photographer and occasional arsonist. Sense of humour so dry it needed a drink… Postdoc now at MIPS with Ray Norton.

Neil Robertson

2012-18.Hons and PhD student with Jacqui. Had the best (binding) curves… Currently a postdoc at UNSW with Paul Curmi.

Ashley Lee

2017. BSc Hons student who worked with Ingrid and Joel on Angelman Syndrome.

Max Bedward

2017. BSc Hons student with Joel who was inspired to return after 2014 summer scholarship with Jason.

Grace Mackie

2017. BSc Hons student working with Jacqui. That’s Mack-e, not Mack-i…

Jack Zeng

2016-7. Undergraduate TSP student with Ann in 2017 who worked with Joel/Mario/Ana in 2016. Possibly one of the most productive TSP projects we’ve seen.

Henry (Qikui) Xu

2017-8. TSP student who worked with Taylor, Mario and Jason. A keen structural biologist.

Dr Poker Chen

2017-8. Computational structural biologist who quietly sneaked into the lab on a six-month visit from his postdoctoral position at EMBL.

Florine Chrétien

2018. French intern engineering student from Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie et des Industries Alimentaires (you asked) working for with Ann. Bienvenue!

Betsy Chen

2018. BSc Hons student working with Ann.

Kevork Mouradian

2018. Undergraduate TSP student who solved crystal structures (see evidence in background) with Karishma. Capitalized on her green crystallization fingers …

Gabrielle McClymont

2017-8. MSc + Hons student with Jacqui. Now off overseas to persue her PhD. Bon voyage!

Vania Caldas

2016-7. Hons and MSc student with Jacqui. Now entered the nobel profession of teaching!

James Walshe

2018. PhD student with Sandro Ataide who helped out mightily with some bromodomain crystallography – not to mention keeping the lab running. Now postdocing with Alastair Stewart.

Mehdi Sharifitabar

2015-8. PhD student with Joel. Came to us from the Royan Institute in Tehran with a *lot* of experience in the lab. Has moved a few minutes down the road to postdoc with John Rasko at Centenary.

Steph Helder

2014-2018. BSc Hons and PhD student with Joel. Showed extraordinary poise in the face of the difficult proteins that she had to wrestle with.

Jia Wang

PhD student who visited Joel’s lab from Qingdao Institute for Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology – part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Helped Jessica keep her Mandarin up to scratch.

Dr Lorna Wilkinson-White

2008-2017. Long-time postdoc with Jacqui and now manager of our new and exciting fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) facility that is part of Sydney Analytical.

Dr Mario Torrado del Rey

2014-2018. Protein biochemist and guitarist from Madrid who postdoc-ed with Joel. Now a staff scientist in the USyd Protein Production Facility that is part of Sydney Analytical – making bespoke proteins to order with consummate skill!

Taylor Szyszka

2015-2018. PhD student with Joel – all the way from the US of A (and proud of it – well, maybe less so lately…). Need some science communicated? She’s now your person!

Athina Manakas

2015-2019. BSC Hons + PhD student who worked with Jacqui. Did a good job working on a challenging collaborative project with another lab and has moved on to greater things!

Erica Goh

2018/2019. Undergraduate student who worked with Ann.

Sanjay Yapabandara

2018-2019. Undergraduate summer/TSP student who got a taste of lab life working with Ann.

Patrick Wang

2018-2020. Undergraduate volunteer working with Ann.

Carlotta Wills

2019. Undergraduate student in the Dalyell program – working with Joel, under the tutelage of Xavier and Jessica.

Sibel Alca

2019. Second-year BMedSci student in the Dalyell program – working with Jason.

Dr Ana Silva

2012-2019. Postdoc with Joel. Crystallographer from Portugal via the UK. Has stepped away from the lab bench to the coding bench – out there in the big wide world with web design company Hypothesis! We’ll miss you Ana – but go get ’em!

Dr Ann Kwan

PI and NMR Facility Manager, with her own unique style. Is delving into the mysterious world of solid-state protein NMR.

Find her at www.kwanlabusyd.com

 

A/Prof. David Segal

Recent sabbatical visitor (and honorary ongoing lab member) from deep in the agricultural heart of the US. Is very proud of this fish.

Aaron Misquitta

2020. Undergraduate student who dug into the mechanism of chromatin remodelling under Jessica’s watchful eye.

Nuren Tasneem

2021. Intrepid MSc student who worked with Yu Heng Lau in Chemistry on the very cool encapsulin family of proteins and spent some time in Joel’s lab to see the other side (of City Rd). Now forging a career in Biotech!

Angus Hawken

2021-2. Undergraduate student who worked with Jason and Joel to explore the use of cyclic peptides derived from mRNA display screens as intracellular modulators of protein function.

Dr Petr Pachl

Crystallographer from Prague who has joined Jacqui for a postdoctoral stint. Has an eye for a photo.

Marcus Johnson

2021. BSc Hons student working with Joel, Ron and Emily Remnant – a crossover project where we merged our interest in transcription factors with Ron’s expertise in insecticide development and Emily’s deep knowledge of honeybees! Discovered a love of AlphaFold and computation in general.

Cameron Taylor

2021-22. An intern studying in Southampton who came to Sydney for a stint working with Joel and Ingrid (mostly Ingrid!) before finishing off his degree in the UK. Had a chance to explore the wonderful world of BET bromodomain proteins – and to actually get into the lab after a frustrating lab-less time during COVID.

James Woodmansey

2016-2019. PhD student working with Jacqui *and* Joel. Tricky position but handled it with aplomb!

Maryam Sana

2016-20. Recently finished PhD student with Joel. Amazingly managed to successfully juggle a PhD with motherhood – mighty impressive…