The Lab
Prof. Chris Tape 🇬🇧
Principal Investigator
Chris received his Ph.D. from Prof. Gillian Murphy's lab at the CRUK Cambridge Institute (University of Cambridge). He was then awarded a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship between The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) (with Dr. Claus Jorgensen and Prof. Chris Marshall) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (with Prof. Doug Lauffenburger). Chris now leads the Cell-Communication Lab at UCL CI studying how different cell types collaborate in cancer.
E-mail: c.tape@ucl.ac.uk
Bluesky: @christophertape.bsky.social
Postdocs
Dr. Aurélie Dobric 🇫🇷
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Aurélie studied Life Sciences B.Sc., Development and Immunology M.Res., followed by a PhD in Cancer Biology at Aix-Marseille Université. Aurélie is using high-throughput single-cell technologies to understanding tumour-stroma signalling in patient-derived organoid models of colorectal cancer.
E-mail: a.dobric@ucl.ac.uk
Research Assistants
Ewa Basiarz 🇵🇱
Research Assistant
Ewa studied Biomedical Science B.Sc. at the University of Surrey followed by M.Res in Reproductive Science and Women’s Health at University College London. Ewa is developing autologous patient-derived microenvironment models of colorectal cancer to study patient-specific chemo- and immunotherapy responses.
E-mail: ewa.basiarz.21@ucl.ac.uk
Dr. Shauna Crampsie 🇬🇧
Senior Research Assistant
Shauna studied Neuroscience B.Sc. at the University of Sussex, Neuroimaging M.Sc. at King’s College London, and Ph.D. at The Institute of Cancer Research. Shauna is developing new single-cell technologies to study cell signalling and plasticity in organoid models of cancer.
E-mail: s.crampsie@ucl.ac.uk
Sierra Vanderkamp 🇨🇦
Research Assistant
Sierra studied Biomedical Sciences B.Sc. and M.Sc. at University of Guelph. Sierra works with the Organoid Translational Technology Platform to develop novel in vitro cancer models.
E-mail: s.vanderkamp@ucl.ac.uk
Petra Vlckova 🇨🇿
Senior Research Assistant
Petra earned her B.Sc. in Biomedicine at Birkbeck College followed by a M.Sc. in Cancer Biology from University College London. Petra is building advanced 3D co-culture models of colorectal cancer using organoids, fibroblasts, macrophages, and T cells.
Petra leads the Organoid Translational Technology Platform at the CRUK City of London Centre.
E-mail: petra.vlckova.16@ucl.ac.uk
Students
Marta Labarquilla Alonso 🇪🇸
Ph.D. Student
Marta studied Biotechnology at Francisco de Vitoria University Madrid. Marta is using patient-derived organoids and mass-spectrometry proteomics to identify novel cell-surface antigens in chemo resistant colorectal cancer.
Secondary Supervisor: Dr. Claire Roddie
E-mail: marta.alonso.23@ucl.ac.uk
Nick Li 🇬🇧
Clinical Research Training Fellow
Nick studied medicine at University of Oxford and is a Specialist Registrar in colorectal surgery. Nick is using patient-derived organoid co-cultures to investigate stromal radioprotection in colorectal cancer.
Secondary Supervisor: Dr. Vivian Li
Co-Supervisor: Prof. Maria Hawkins
E-mail: nick.li@ucl.ac.uk
X: @MrNickLi
Callum Nattress 🇬🇧
MB.Ph.D. Student
Callum is studying for an MBPhD at University College London. Callum is using patient derived organoids and single-cell technologies to investigate engineered γδ T cells as novel biotherapeutics for colorectal cancer.
Secondary Supervisor: Dr. Jon Fisher
Co-Supervisor: Prof. John Anderson
E-mail: callum.nattress.19@ucl.ac.uk
Corinne Molyneux 🇬🇧
Ph.D. Student
Corinne studied Pharmacology at the University of Bath followed by the R&D Graduate Programme at AstraZeneca. Corinne is performing single-cell co-culture organoid CRISPR screening to study stromal drug protection mechanisms in CRC.
Secondary Supervisor: Prof. Daniel Hochhauser
E-mail: corinne.molyneux.22@ucl.ac.uk
Rhianna O’Sullivan 🇬🇧
Ph.D. Student
Rhianna studied Biomedical Sciences at Nottingham Trent followed by a M.Res. in Cancer Biology at Imperial College London and the R&D Graduate Programme at AstraZeneca. Rhianna is using TOBis MC to study patient-specific PDO-CAF interactions in CRC.
Secondary Supervisor: Prof. Erik Sahai
E-mail: rhianna.osullivan.21@ucl.ac.uk
Alistair Wilkinson 🇬🇧
Ph.D. Student
Alistair studied completed his M.Sc. in Natural Sciences at the University of Nottingham with a focus on mathematical biology. Alistair is developing novel computational methods to understand phenotypic plasticity from high-dimensional single-cell data.
Secondary Supervisor: Prof. Smita Krishnaswamy (Yale)
Co-Supervisor: Dr. Fabian Fröhlich
E-mail: alistair.wilkinson.24@ucl.ac.uk
Alumni
James Opzoomer
Postdoc (2020-2024)
Current Position: Senior Scientist, Innovation Labs, Relation Therapeutics
Xiao Qin
Postdoc (2018-2024)
Current Position: Junior Group Leader, MRC Translational Immune Discovery Unit (University of Oxford)
Ferran Cardoso Rodriguez
Ph.D. Student (2019-2023)
Thesis Title: ‘Charting the Single-Cell Landscape of Colorectal Cancer Stem Cell Polarisation’
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow (ICR)
Jahangir Sufi
Research Assistant (2017-2023)
Current Position: Senior Research Technician, Flow Cytometry Core (King’s College London)
María Ramos Zapatero
Ph.D. Student (2019-2023)
Thesis Title: ‘Single-cell Screening of Heterocellular Patient-derived Organoid Drug Responses’
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Bodenmiller Lab (ETH Zurich)
Ashley Campbell
Research Assistant (2021-2022)
Current Position: PhD Student (Barts Cancer Institute)
Gallery
