Cohort 2023

Laren Alphan

PhD Project Title: Investigating novel therapies to reverse white matter damage and inflammation in Multiple Sclerosis

PhD Supervisors: Dr Nicola Hamilton-Whitaker & Dr Robert Köchl

Educational and Career Background: I studied Biomedical Sciences at King's College London, and then followed this with a Master of Research degree in Translational Neuroscience from UCL.


Louisa Janice Kamajaya

PhD Project Title: Investigating the implications of AD-associated polymorphisms in BIN1 on white matter physiology and inflammation

PhD Supervisors: Prof Timothy Tree & Dr Nicola Hamilton-Whitaker

Educational and Career Background: I obtained my BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences with a Year in Industry degree from the University of York. During my studies, I conducted a research project investigating the role of the Gasdermin-D in inflammatory cell death pathways under the Laidlaw Scholarship. Moreover, I completed a year long placement in GlaxoSmithKline where I focused on investigating the role of sensory neurons on different disease models. Upon returning to University of York, I developed an assay to measure the rate of protein synthesis in cells for my final year project.


Megan Maloney

PhD Project Title: Investigating the antigenicity of glioblastoma stem cells upon novel therapeutic treatments

PhD Supervisors: Prof Michele Mishto & Prof Keyoumars Ashkan

Educational and Career Background: I got my undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Nottingham and my Master's in Neuroscience at King's College London.


Xin Yi Ng

PhD Project Title: Exploring the link between mind and skin: understanding the neurocutaneous axis in atopic dermatitis

PhD Supervisors: Prof Carsten Flohr & Prof Tomoki Arichi

Educational and Career Background: I completed my BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2019. Following the completion of my studies, I worked as a research assistant at Duke-NUS Medical School for 4 years where I investigated the role of synaptic vesicle recycling on the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease and developed my interests for neuroimmunology.


Catarina Raimundo

PhD Project Title: Developing hiPSC-based models to investigate the role of microglia in schizophrenia and underlying heterogeneity in treatment response

PhD Supervisors: Prof Anthony Vernon & Dr Shahram Kordasti

Educational and Career Background: I completed my BSc degree in Biology - sp. Molecular Biology & Genetics at Lisbon University. I then proceeded to do a research master in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience - sp. Fundamental Neuroscience at Maastricht University. I developed my master thesis project at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, where I continued working as a Research Assistant for one year before pursuing my Doctoral studies.


Esther Walters

PhD Project Title: The role of TRAF2 NcK-Interacting Kinase (TNIK) in ischaemic stroke

PhD Supervisors: Dr Diana Cash & Dr Aleksandar Ivetic

Educational and Career Background: I got my undergraduate degree in Pharmacology and a Master's degree in Drug Discovery at King's College London. I then briefly worked for bit.bio and CGT Catapult before becoming a Neuroimaging research assistant at King's.