The Lab

GTPvan

Darerca and Helen have worked together since 1997, when we were both post-docs in Cambridge. Since 2004 we have held permanent positions in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge. Darerca is a molecular biologist and protein chemist and Helen is a protein NMR specialist. We bring our combination of skills to all of the projects that we run.

Here we are at a FASEB meeting in 2000 with the best licence plate on a rental car we could find!

Darerca Owen

Darerca's first degree was in Genetics and she followed this with a PhD in Genetics in Peter Strike's lab at the University of Liverpool. She was then a post-doc at the Institute for Cancer Studies, University of Birmingham, where she became interested in cell signalling and small G proteins. She then moved to the University of Cambridge and was a post-doc there before being appointed as an Assistant Director of Research.

Helen Mott

Helen's first degree was in Biochemistry and she followed this with a PhD in Biochemistry in Iain Campbell's lab at the University of Oxford. She was then a post-doc at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she began working on small G proteins. She moved to the University of Cambridge and held two MRC Fellowships before being appointed as an Assistant Director of Research.

Lab Members

GeorgeSGeorgios Sophocleous (2013-current): George came to us as an undergraduate project student and stayed to do a PhD. He has a Biochemistry degree from Cambridge. He is funded by the A.G. Leventis foundation in Cyprus. George is interested in structural biology and is working on PRK proteins and their interactions with Rho family G proteins.
Tim photoGeorge Tetley (2013-current): George is a PhD student and is funded by an MRC and Isogenica Case Studentship. George has a degree in Biochemistry from Trinity College, Dublin and is interested in protein-protein interactions and the use of peptides as therapeutics. George is working on peptides that bind to Cdc42.
Ana MasaraAna Masara Binti Ahmad Mokhtar (2016-current): Ana has a degree in Biomedical science from the Universiti Putra Malaysia. She is funded by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia and Universiti Sains Malaysia. Her work is focussed on  the interaction between Activated Cdc42 associated-kinase (ACK) and regulators of the Rho family small G proteins.
CatHurdCatherine Hurd (2016- current). Cat has a degree in Medicinal and Biological Chemistry from the University of Nottingham. She is funded by an AstraZeneca studentship. She works on stapled peptides that bind to Ral small G proteins.
Millie FoxMillie Fox (2016-current). Millie has a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Sussex, with a placement year at GlaxoSmithKline. She is funded by the MRC and AstraZeneca and she works on the interaction between ACK and PI3 kinase.
SamChamberlainSam Chamberlain (2016-curent). Sam has a degree in Biochemistry from Imperial College London. He is funded by the BBSRC and AstraZeneca and he is studying how RalA interacts with membranes and with its protein binding partners.
MarcoIpMarco Ip (2018-current) Marco has a degree in Biology from Tunghai University, Taiwan and a Masters from Osaka University, Japan in Dr Masato Okada's lab. He is funded by the Taiwanese Government and the Cambridge Trusts and he is studying interactions between ACK and Rho family protein regulators.

Past Members

Naomi

Dr Naomi Robertson (2016-2017). Naomi has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Glasgow and a PhD from Andrew Jamieson's lab in Glasgow. She is a peptide chemist and is now working as a post-doc with Professor David Spring in the Chemistry Department, Cambridge.

Jemima photo

Dr Greg Costakes (2014-2016): Greg has a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Michigan State University and a PhD from Cynthia Stauffacher's lab at Purdue University. Greg is a structural and molecular biologist who now works at a Boston Biochem.

Jo Picture

Dr Joanna Watson (2011-2017): Jo came to us as an undergraduate project student and stayed on to do a PhD. She was funded by the Herchel Smith studentship. Jo worked on Cdc42 and Toca1, which is involved in actin cytoskeleton and endocytosis. Jo now works at MedImmune.

Lira photo

Lira Puebla (2012-2017): Lira has degrees in Chemistry from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and Universidad de Castilla-Lamanchain Spain. She first came to Cambridge in 2010 as an Erasmus student. She was funded by Funcacion Caja Madrid and a Research Scholarship from St Johns. Lira worked on domains from the ACK tyrosine kinase.

Arooj photo

Dr Arooj Shafiq (2011-2015): Arooj has a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Punjab in Pakistan. She was funded by the Pakistani Higher Education Commission and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. Arooj used NMR during her PhD to investigate the structure, dynamics and interactions of Ral proteins. She is now an Assistant Professor at Barrett Hodgson University, Karachi.

Natasha photo

Dr Natasha Clayton (2011-2015): Natasha has a degree in Physiology from the University of Leicester. She is funded by the BBSRC. She is an expert in tissue culture and protein-protein interactions and worked on the protein tyrosine kinase ACK1 and its targets. She is now a post-doc at Barts Cancer Institute.

Samrein

Dr Samrein Ahmed (2013-2014): Samrein has a medical degree from University of Khartoum, Sudan and an MSc degree in cancer cell and molecular biology from the University of Leicester, where she has also did her PhD. Samrein is a molecular biologist who is interested in studying cancer cell migration and metastasis. She worked on RLIP76 and its association with Rho proteins. Samrein is now an Assistant Professor of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

Jemima photoDr Jemima Thomas (2013-2014): Jemima has a degree in Chemistry from Oxford and a PhD from Edward Tate's lab at Imperial College London. She followed this with a post-doc with Alessio Ciulli in Cambridge. Jemima is a biological chemist who is interested in modulating protein-protein interactions. She now works at the Institute for Cancer Studies in London.
Tim photoDr Timothy Sendall (2012-2013): Tim has a degree in Biology from Nottingham and a PhD from the CIMR in Cambridge. Tim is a biochemist and molecular biologist. He now works as a post-doc with Jim Huntington at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research.
Karthik photoDr Karthik Rajasekar (2008-2011): Karthik has a degree in Industrial Biotechnology from Anna University, Chennai and a PhD from Eva Hyde's lab in Birmingham. He is a structural biologist who also has an interest in biophysical techniques. Karthik is currently a post-doc with Prof Colin Kleanthous in Oxford.
Lou Campbell photoLouise Campbell (2001-2011): Lou has a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Leicester. She is a research assistant whose main interests lie in protein chemistry and the analysis of protein interactions. Lou is currently taking a career break to bring up her family.
Cat photoDr Catherine Hutchinson (2005-2011): Cat came to us as an undergraduate project student and stayed to pursue a PhD funded by BBSRC. She is interested in protein interactions. During her time with us she worked on the Rho family and its coiled-coil effector proteins. She is currently working at PhiloChem in Otelfingen, Switzerland.
Mike Davies photoMichael Davies (2010-2011): Mike was an undergraduate project student who worked on Cdc42/effector interactions. He went to work in finance.
Millie Godlee photoCamilla Godlee (2010-2011): Millie was an undergraduate project student who worked on interactions between ACK1 and other proteins. She went to be a PhD student at EMBL (Heidelberg) in Marko Kaksonen's group.
Kadalmani photoDr Kadalmani Krishnan (2006-2010): Kadalmani was a PhD student who worked on interactions between the ACK1 tyrosine kinase and signalling proteins. His expertise lies in mammalian cell culture, western blotting and kinase assays. Kadalmani is currently a post-doc at Harvard Medical School with Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas.
Laura photoDr Laura Bailey (2005-2010): Laura was a BBSRC-funded PhD student who solved the structure of the Arl2 effector BART (published in 2009) and investigated its interactions with Arl2 and Arl3. Laura is currently working at the Paul Scherrer Insitute in Switzerland.
Courtney photosCourtney Schroeder (2009-2010): Courtney was a Churchill Scholar and MPhil student who worked on interactions between the ACK1 tyrosine kinase and other molecules. Courtney is currently pursuing a PhD in San Francisco (UCSF).
Nicola Darling photoNicola Darling (2009-2010): Nicola was an undergraduate project student who worked on interactions between ACK1 and other signalling proteins. Nicola is currently pursuing a PhD at the Babraham Institute with Simon Cook.
Bryn Fenwick photoDr R. Brynmor Fenwick (2004-2009): Bryn came from New Zealand to do a PhD with us, funded by the Cambridge Overseas Trusts. He solved the structures of the Ral binding domain of RLIP76 (RalBP1) and its complex with RalB (published 2010. Bryn is currently a post-doc with Peter Wright at the Scripps Institute.
pepe photoDr José Vicente Garcia (2004-2008): Pépé was a PhD student who was funded by a BBSRC Case studentship with GlaxoSmithKline. Pépé started off most of the work on ACK1 interactions in the lab. Originally from Galacia in Northern Spain, he is now settled in Cambridge and is a clinical research consultant.
Jordan Clay photoJordan Clay (2007-2008): Jordan was an undergraduate project student who worked on IQGAP while he was in the lab. He went on to do a DPhil in Oxford with Radu Aricescu.
Sunil photoDr Sunil Prasannan (2004-2007): Sunil was a post-doc funded by Cancer Research UK. He worked on exocyst and the RalB project and was involved in solving the structure of RalB, published in 2009. After a post-doc at NIMR in Mill Hill, he went to do a post-doc in Boulder, Colorado with Hang Yin.
keily photoKeily Littlefield (2005-2007):Keily was a research assistant funded by Cancer Research UK. She worked on interactions involving the Rho family, including IQGAP (published in 2008). She is now living in Cornwall where she runs the teaching labs at Truro College.
Rakhee photoDr Rakhee Modha (2001-2005): Rakhee was an MRC-funded PhD student who worked on the structure of Rac1 in complex with the HR1b domain from PRK1. This was published in 2008 and was selected as paper of the week in JBC. Rakhee is now a consultant at Heron Health.
Kat photoKatrina Evetts (2000-2004): Kat was a technician funded by the MRC who worked on the Rho family project. She doesn't really look like this but we don't have her photo. Kat is currently working for Blood Products Ltd.