Brian Ferguson

Principal Investigator

Brian was brought up in Stamford, before moving to London to study Biochemistry as an undergraduate at Imperial College, and as a PhD student at University College London under the guidance of Prof Paul Driscoll and Dr Huseyin Mehmet. This work contributed to the structural and molecular biology of death receptor signalling.  Moving to Cambridge to work under one of the founding fathers of apoptosis, Prof Andrew Wyllie, along with Dr Tina Rich, was an eclectic postdoctoral training experience for Brian, and one which fostered a love of immunology. Working with Prof Geoff Smith as one of the first cohort of Imperial College Research Fellows triggered Brian’s interest in host-pathogen interactions. The co-evolution of pathogens with their hosts means that it is not possible to understand our immune system without studying both sides of this battle.

Ferguson lab has a range of collaborative, multidisciplinary research projects with a particular focus on the innate immune system, how pathogens counter these defence mechanisms and how we can use that information to design better vaccines. Brian is also actively involved in scientific outreach in his role as a STEM ambassador .

Emma Wagner

PhD Student

Emma is a MRC DTP PhD student working in the lab. Originally from Cambridge, she ventured to Scotland for her BSc(Hons) in Physiology at the University of Aberdeen and then over to Stockholm for her MSc in Biomedicine at the Karolinska Institute, before returning to Cambridge for her PhD.

In the lab Emma’s project focuses on the mechanistic basis by which oncolytic viruses interact with the intracellular DNA sensing machinery.

April D’Arcy

PhD student

April is an MRC funded PhD student who joined the lab in 2020 with the aim of studying the mechanisms of oncolytic virus induced cell death. When not playing rugby April can mostly be found scouring the literature to understand how many new types of cell death have been published in the last 24-48 hours.

Past members

Rahul Singh

PhD Student

Rahul is now a postdoc in Yorgo Modis' lab in Cambridge

Marisa Oliveira

postdoc

Marisa is now a postdoc in Dr Mike Weekes lab at CIMR, Cambridge

Dayana Hristova

PhD Student

Dayana completed her PhD and is now working for Dante Therapeutics in Dubai

Evgeniya (Zhenya) Shmeleva

Postdoc

Zhenya is now a postdoc in Mike Levin's lab at Tufts

Helena Teague

PhD Student

After graduating Helena moved to the NHS to train in Policy and Strategy

Delphine Depierreux

PhD Student

Delphine has gone on to win a postdoctoral training fellowship to work on HIV B cell responses in Julie Overbaugh's lab in Seattle

Taissa Ricciardi-Jorge

Visiting PhD student from UFSC, Brazil

After graduating with her PhD, Taissa moved to become a postdoc with Dr Trevor Sweeney at Pirbright institiute

Anja Schoettler

Visiting Masters Student from Maastricht, Netherlands

Anja has submitted her Masters thesis and returned to Germany with plans to apply for a PhD.

Kathi Lauer

Postdoc

After her stint as a postdoc, Kathi is now the scientific lead of BY-COVID & coordinator of the COVID-19 initiatives at ELIXIR Europe

Ben Trigg

PhD Student

After his PhD, Ben took up a role as a Software Engineer working for Cyted

Ana Laura Moldoveanu

Research Assistant

Ana obtained a PhD at Imperial College and is now working in the Bioscience Immunology division at Astra Zeneca

Natasha Brett

Masters Student

Natasha successfully completed her masters degree and is now studying for a PhD in Dundee

Christian Ku

PhD Student

Christian is now a consultant at Solici