News

EDV

Celebrating the first year of the group with new members!

As our research group reaches its first anniversary, we are happy to welcome three new members that join us from the end of September 2024.

Welcome to Diego, a third year BSc student studying Biochemistry, who will work with us for his final research project, learning how to purify a protein phosphatase and characterise its activity with biochemical assays.

Welcome to Azzah, a fourth year MSci student in Biochemistry, who joins us for her research project, where she will study systems to evaluate induced proximity modalities like PHOSTACs.

Welcome to Soumiah, a fourth year MSci student in Biochemistry, who joins us to acquire skills in organic synthesis, helping us develop our covalent approaches for targeting phosphatases.

To celebrate the newcomers and the group anniversary, we enjoyed lunch near the canal close to our Mile End campus and were blessed by a nice and sunny Autumn day. We had a cozy atmosphere and enjoyable food, with nice vibes at our table. Looking forward to do science with this great bunch!

EDV

Royal Society Research Grant award to study PHOSTACs

The EDV Lab is incredibly excited to share that we have been awarded a Royal Society Research Grant to support our ongoing efforts in the development of covalent PHOSTACs for applications in cancer therapy! It is the first major external funding of the group and a fantastic start for 2024.

This award will enable the purchase of specialised equipment such as a plate reader with high specs for absorbance, fluorescence and luminescence. Access to this apparatus is pivotal to developing our novel small molecules as well as elucidating the mechanism of action of inducers of proximity, including PHOSTACs. Stay tuned for updates on these and more applications.

We are very grateful to the Royal Society for supporting our research!

EDV

Tara joins the group as the first PhD student

The year starts with a fantastic piece of news for the EDV lab: Tara joins us today to embark on a journey of chemical biology for protein phosphatases!

Tara will be based in our laboratory space in the JP Building on Mile End campus. Her PhD thesis will be co-supervised by Prof Viji Draviam. Tara brings an excellent background for the project and we are looking forward to seeing her developing as a scientist in the next years.

A warm welcome to Tara, exciting times ahead!

EDV

EDV Lab at Queen Mary, now online!

We are happy to share the start of our research journey as we set up the lab and everything that goes with it…

Since last September, you can find Elena in the Joseph Priestley Building on Mile End Campus. Her office is the 6th door on the left of the ground floor corridor. She has also an official door plate now – special thanks to our School Building Manager, Sam!

…just a ‘knock’ away!