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MEET THE TEAM
STUART FERGUSON
PhD student
Stuart started his PhD in October 2023 after completing a Master of Research degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Glasgow in Prof. Helen Walden's lab. Stuart's PhD is funded by the EPSRC MoSMed CDT and he is using cryo-EM to study the interactions of proteins and RNA involved in RNA virus replication.
DR LIZ MORRIS
Assistant Professor
Liz joined Durham University's Biosciences Department as an Assistant Professor in Biochemistry in March 2022. Prior to this, Liz completed her undergraduate and Master's degrees at Cambridge University in Natural Sciences (Chemistry), a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham and post-doctoral positions at the University of Edinburgh and the Francis Crick Institute, London.
ROSELLA PINCKNEY
PhD student
Rosella graduated with a first class degree in Natural Sciences from Durham University in 2023. She is investigating the structure and mechanism of nucleotide-modifying anti-viral enzymes in her BBSRC NLD DTP-funded PhD.
SARA GHAZY
Research Assistant
Sara completed her Bachelors in Biochemistry from Mansoura University in Egypt and then completed a Masters in Chemical Innovation and Regulation from the University of Bologna. She is working on drug discovery assay development in partnership with AstraZeneca, funded by an MRC Impact Acceleration Award.
JEMIMA WILLOUGHBY
PhD student
Jemima was awarded a first class BSc in Biological Sciences from Durham in 2024 and completed her third year project in the lab. She is now pursuing a PhD funded by Durham University investigating the anti-viral mechanisms of RNA-binding human proteins using biophysical and structural methods.
DR JULIEN KOENIG
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
Julien completed his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 2024 at Saarland University in the lab of Prof. Johann Jauch. There he worked on natural product total synthesis. He is now carrying out EPSRC Impact Acceleration Award-funded post-doctoral research in the lab of Prof. AnnMarie O'Donoghue (Durham Chemistry), co-supervised by Dr Liz Morris where he is learning recombinant protein expression, purification and enzymological assay development.
UFUK KUCUKEFE
Summer Student
Ufuk is an undergraduate student studying Chemistry at Durham and has won a Biochemical Society Summer Vacation Studentship to spend 6 weeks working on RNA-binding anti-viral proteins.
SUMMARA KOUSAR
Visiting PhD student
Summara is carrying out a PhD in Chemistry at Lahore University of Management Sciences in Lahore, Pakistan. In 2024 Summara won a Commonwealth PhD Scholarship to spend a year at Durham University in the labs of Dr Liz Morris and Prof. Patrick Steel (Chemistry) to characterise protease-small molecule interactions and develop assays for inhibitor screening.
HENRY RICHARDSON
Summer Student
Henry is in the 2nd year of his Biochemistry BSc at Durham University and is spending 6 weeks carrying out research into Acetylcholinesterase. He was awarded a Durham University Biosciences Department Summer Internship to fund his research.
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