Management Team
Professor Vikki Rand
Interim Director of the National Horizons Centre
Vikki is responsible for leading the NHC's development as a centre of excellence for the biosciences and healthcare sectors, working in partnership with industry, the NHS and other stakeholders to ensure that provision is driven by current and planned needs for research, innovation, skills and talent.
Dr Mark Corbett
Business Development Manager
Mark works with businesses to forge enduring partnerships that are at the heart of an industry-informed pipeline of talent and research & innovation excellence.
Dann Cooley
Operations and Facilities Manager
Dann is responsible for the day-to-day running of the NHC, ensuring it smooth operation. Dann is from a technical, person and facilities management background with a focus on practical skills development and innovation in the sporting environment.
Jo Fisher
Operations Co-ordinator
Jo is responsible for providing operational support to the National Horizons Centre’s Director and Operations & Facilities Manager. She liaises with external business partners, coordinating meetings and events, and also liaises with University Schools and departments. Jo’s background is in finance, which fits well with her day-to-day role of assisting with procurement and budget control.
Steve Bagshaw, CBE
Chief Industry Advisor
As Chief Industry Advisor, Steve helps the National Horizons Centre keep abreast of latest developments in the life sciences field, ensuring its training and research meet the needs of business. Steve is the Manufacturing Lead on the UK Vaccines Taskforce and a former chief executive of FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies. In January 2021, he was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of his services to the UK Manufacturing and Biotechnology Sector.
Training
Daniel Shenton
Senior Bioprocessing Trainer and Training Coordinator
After completing his BSc Applied Biology at Northumbria University, Daniel worked for 9 years in FUJIFILM Diosynth Technologies in Billingham. Daniel starting as a Production Technologist in Microbial DSP before creating a training and improvements role in mammalian cell culture working with both upstream and downstream single-use technologies. Before joining the NHC, Daniel had progressed into a Lead Production Technologist management role in mammalian cell culture, managing both people and plant.
Sharon Robertson
Bioprocessing Training Officer
Before joining the NHC Sharon worked as a Science secondary school teacher. Specialising in Biology, Sharon taught GCSE, A Level Biology and BTEC Applied Science as well as promoting STEM careers to students of all ages.
Prior to her teaching career Sharon worked for 20 years at Sartorius Stedim Biotechnology in Business Development and Sales Management roles - supporting UK Bioprocessing organisations such as FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnology, GSK and Novartis Vaccines. During her early career Sharon also worked in medical research investigating SLE and the aetiology of HPV tumours.
Sharon has an Honours BSc in Biochemistry and Microbiology from the University of Leeds and a PGCE from Leeds Trinity University.
Connor Foster
Bioprocessing Training Officer
After completing a BSc at Newcastle University, Connor has worked in a variety of roles including a QC/veterinary lab technician in the highlands of Scotland and as a cell production technologist at FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies in Billingham. Working in the MCC facility, Connor performed a variety of upstream and downstream activities to produce active proteins for use in therapeutics.
Our Researchers
Dr Safwan Akram
Biomanufacturing
Safwan is responsible for the NHC's enterprise and business engagement activities, linking academics with external organisations. Safwan's current research is working towards the development of low-cost diagnostics for point of care, working in collaboration with local pharmaceutical companies to bring down the cost of biopharmaceuticals.
Dr Ambroise Baker
Sustainable Planet
Ambroise’s research focuses on how plants, biodiversity and complex ecosystems respond to environmental change. Answering this question is critical to developing evidence-based policies to protect the environment and human well-being in the context of global change.
Dr Lisa Baldini
Sustainable Planet
Lisa's research interests span palaeoclimate reconstruction using biogenic and inorganic carbonates, modern stable isotope systematics in meteoric precipitation and groundwater, and using geochemical fingerprinting to trace human impacts on the environment.
Dr Jamie Bojko
Sustainable Planet
Jamie’s research involves screening for and systematically identifying the symbionts of animal hosts (primarily Crustacea and Mollusca). With a focus on Microsporidia, bacteria and viruses. Jamie uses histological, electron microscopy, molecular diagnostic, and metagenomic methods to better understand the microbiomes of invertebrate hosts. These data are used to develop disease ecology models to understand how diseases transmit and impact host activity and behaviour.
Dr Helen Carney
Sustainable Planet
Helen’s research spans environmental microbiology and industrial biotechnology and aims to detect and isolate bacterial strains with unique and beneficial properties that can be used in waste treatment and manufacturing. Helen has particular interest in the isolation and detection of Acidithiobacillus and other iron oxidising bacteria that contribute to acid mine drainage arising from both anthropogenic and natural processes.
Dr Amber Collings
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Sustainable Planet
Amber’s background is a mix of forensic biology and anthropology, comparative functional anatomy and evolution, virtual anthropology, and biomechanics. Amber’s research integrates her multi-disciplinary training to investigate the impact of environmental and physical factors on remains. Amber is also an expert in 3D imaging and printing, applying this expertise to forensics investigations and evidence presentation, osteology training, reconstruction of human remains, anatomical visualisation and pathology and parasite investigations.
Professor Stephen Cummings
Disease specific research
Steve's research studies how complex microbial communities are implicated in a number of diseases, so called polymicrobial infections.
Dr Paul Dean
Disease specific research
Paul's research centres around the mechanisms of pathogen evolution, how they infect us and how our cells respond to them. He has extensive experience with medically-important bacterial and fungal pathogens – such as E.coli, Microsporidia and Salmonella
Dr Priyanka Dey
Biomanufacturing
Priyanka's research focusses on ways to further the potential of nano-gold bio-imaging agents and Raman spectroscopy for clincially-relevant cancer diagnosis.
Dr Maria Dimopoulou
Sustainable Planet
Maria’s research addresses food wastes and food sustainability with a focus on biopolymers including the relationship between their structure and physicochemical properties as well as their functionality and innovative applications.
Dr Nick Duggett
Disease specific research
Nick's research focusses on antimicrobial resistance, whole gneome sequencing of microbes and investigating detection of human pathogens in livestock.
Dr Pei San (Sharel) E
Biomanufacturing
Peisan's research focuses on areas of nanoscale/microscale electrochemistry, electroanalysis, electrocatalysis, development of electrochemical sensor (biosensor and environmental sensor) and electrochemical energy storage.
Dr Godwin Ebiloma
Biomanufacturing
Godwin's research focuses on identifying parasite-specific molecular targets for drug and vaccine development against neglected tropical diseases.
Dr Chris Ennis
Biomanufacturing
Sustainable Planet
Chris' research interests are in sustainable technology, especially related to carbon mitigation, utilisation of biochar and environmental protection.
Dr Hong Gao
Disease specific research
Hong's research focusses on synthetic biology, natural products and bioproduction optimisation.
Mahmudal Hassan
Biomanufacturing
Mahmudal's research focusses on the development of new approaches in bioprocessing training andn processes using virtual reality.
Dr Jibin He
Sustainable Planet
Jibin’s research is focused on developing a more sustainable and environmentally responsible human food chain. The current food production system feeding our society stems from the Industrial Revolution with undeniable negative environmental impacts. Jibin’s current research primarily addresses the dependence of the current food system on dairy products and microplastics to seek out alternative solutions.
Dr Rochelle Hockney
Disease specific research
Rochelle's research focusses on women's health, neonates and the microbiome.
Dr Jens Holtvoeth
Sustainable Planet
Jens is a geoscientist, specialising in (paleo)environmental research, biogeochemistry and geobiology, with experience in environmental geoscience.
Dr Graeme Horsman
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Graeme's research focusses on digital and computer forensics and application of emerging technologies.
Professor Meez Islam
Biomanufacturing
Meez's research focusses on the development and application of novel optical spectroscopy based techniques, in particular liquid-phase broadband cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy (BBCEAS) and hyperspectral imaging in a forensic context.
Dr Md Nazmul Islam
Biomanufacturing
Nazmul's research mainly focuses on developing novel biosensor based platforms for personalised diagnostics of diseases.
Dr Claire Jennings
Disease specific research
Biomanufacturing
As a Scientific Officer specialising in Mass Spectrometry, Claire uses proteomic methods to address key questions across bioprocessing, biopharmaceuticals, biotechnology and healthcare. Claire's research interests are focused on detection, characterisation and quantitation of analytes for drug discovery, clinical and structural proteomics.
Dr Maria Angeles Juanes Ortiz
Disease specific research
Maria's main research interests are to understand how cytoskeleton networks coordinate cell migration and division and how their dysfunction leads to human diseases. Her goal is to discover novel biomarkers for early diagnosis and identify new molecules to personalise therapies for diseases including Cancer.
Dr Ahmad Khundakar
Disease specific research
Ahmad's research focuses on investigating the molecular and pathological mechanisms behind neurodegenerative illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s, dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease, as well as depression.
Dr Vasileios Panagiotis Lenis
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Vasileios' research interests lie in a wide range of fields in biological and biomedical sciences, from comparative genomics and evolutionary studies to neuroscience research and personalised medicine.
Dr Xinzhong Li
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Xinzhong's research interests lies in system biology and bioinformatics, including machine learning and next-generation sequencing.
Dr Fatemeh Moheimani
Disease specific research
Fatemeh's research interests are to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying Respiratory diseases (e.g. asthma), with the goal to provide novel and more effective interventions.
Professor Gary Montague
Biomanufacturing
Gary's research focusses on the development and application of systems techniques to make a practical difference to the process and bioprocess industrial sectors.
Dr Jackie Mosely
Biomanufacturing
Jackie applies mass spectrometry to small molecule characterisation, identification of novel chemical protein modifications, lipid analyses and synthetic polymer analysis. Her work also includes the development of transportable mass spectrometry for real-time analyses for forensic and pharmaceutical applications.
Dr Alexander Newman
Disease specific research
Alex's research focusses on the application of state-of-the-art technology and integrated multi-omics data analysis to understand cancer relapse in order to identify prognostic biomarkers.
Dr Caroline Orr
Disease specific research
Sustainable Planet
Caroline’s primary research interests are in analysing the structure of microbial communities, the functional interactions between microbes and their environments, and the impact of environmental change on microbially-driven processes. Caroline applies her expertise in microbiology to diverse systems including agricultural soil, anaerobic digestion, archaeological environments, and human systems.
Helen Page
Sustainable Planet
Helen's research interests include the recovery of biological evidence from unusual samples including from bathwater and personal cleaning implements.
Dr Panagiota Philippou
Disease specific research
Giota's research focusses include Cancer biomarker discovery for early diagnosis and monitoring, the identification of new targets in Cancer therapeutics and the patient’s response to Cancer therapy.
Nanda Puspita
Biomanufacturing
Nanda's research focusses on testing methods of making mycoprotein, the main ingredient in all Quorn products, that would lead to an even more sustainable production methodology and enhancements to product quality.
Professor Vikki Rand
Disease specific research
Vikki is responsible for leading the NHC's development as a centre of excellence for the biosciences and healthcare sectors, working in partnership with industry, the NHS and other stakeholders to ensure that provision is driven by current and planned needs for research, innovation, skills and talent.
Dr Edward Rollason
Sustainable Planet
Ed's research interests focus on the nature of catchments and their communities as connected socio-ecological systems, and how we can develop and promote integrated approaches to management that embed resilience into everyday management activities.
Dr Mosharraf Sarker
Disease specific research
Mosharraf is a human biologist whose research interests lie in the understanding of mammalian cell signalling mechanism to inflammation and oxidative stress.
Dr Tora Smulders-Srinivasan
Disease specific research
Tora's current research is exploring the possible roles of mitochondrial defects in Parkinson’s disease, using Drosophila (fruit fly) models.
Dr Gillian Taylor
Biomanufacturing
Sustainable Planet
Gillian is responsible for the day-to-day running of the NHC, ensuring its smooth operation. Gillian's own research has a focus on the development of analytical techniques, specifically mass spectrometry towards forensic and archaeological applications.
Professor Tim Thompson
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Tim's main areas of research focus on the human body and how it changes, particularly in the modern context.
Dr Helen Tidy
Sustainable Planet
Helen’s research mainly focusses on the use of fibres as a forensic evidence type, looking at aspects such as how the transfer and retention of fibres or the photodegradation of them affects the evidential interpretation for the court of law. She also researches other areas within the forensic field as well as Learning and Teaching techniques.
Dr Chibuzo Uzoigwe
Biomanufacturing
Chibuzo's reseach focusses on the application of mass spectrometry to analyse different samples, such as assessing acrylamide levels in food.
Dr Rhys Williams
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Rhys's research focusses on imaging in archaeology, including digitalising Vindolanda.
Dr David Wright
Sustainable Planet
David's research interests are in microbiology, specifically, relating to how an ecological perspective can be used to inform both medically and environmentally focused research projects
Professor John S. Young
Disease specific research
John is tackling prevalent and impactful diseases of the urinary tract - creating new devices that enable early diagnosis, discovering new drug targets and developing educational resources for patients, carers and healthcare professionals. Outside of urology, he is involved in biomarker discovery, development, evaluation and implementation projects with healthcare, biotech and pharmaceutical sectors.
Masood Zaka
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Masood's research interests are in bioinformatics and computer biology to understand complex diseases and improve patient outcome.
Dr Peixun Zhou
Disease specific research
Peixun's research interests include next-generation sequencing analysis of aggressive cancers and the application of cutting-edge lab techniques (such as CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing) to understand the biology of cancer and response to therapy.
POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS
Bello Abubakar
Biomanufacturing
Genetic modification of pseudomonas putida (XylM, xylS and xylR) genes for effective bioremediation of oil spill
Kent Adamson
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Degraded and degrading: Understanding diagenetic processes in commingled graves from contexts of mass violence
Ahmad Alkawi
Biomanufacturing
The development of mass spectrometry based diagnosis
Amy Burgess
Sustainable Planet
Tracking a demon virus: Exploring viral evolution along the invasion route of the demon shrimp, dikerogammarus haemobaphes
Lucy Butler
Biomanufacturing
Production and characterisation of normal compounds for use in haemostasis testing
Popi Chrysostomou
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Morphoscopic and morphometric methodological approaches for segregating commingled human remains
Libby Clements
Disease specific research
Impact of NICU treatment on health outcomes for preterm infants
Nathan Coles
Disease specific research
Understanding the pathology underpinning dementia through the examination of phosphorylation patterns
Matthew Crowther
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Non-contact light and hyperspectral scanning of biological and chemical samples for forensic analysis
Priscilla Ferreira Ulguim
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
The fire, the body and the people: The funerary practice of cremation in the southern Brazilian Highlands
Dom Gilchrist
Disease specific research
Characterisation and identification of human pathogen and parasite transporter proteins
Hrafnhildur Halldorsdottir
Biomanufacturing
Multidisciplinary approaches to the investigation of preservation processes at the Roman Site of Vindolanda, Northumberland, UK
Md Islam
Disease specific research
Health policy and hospital wastage management: Perspective of Bangladesh
Anthony Jackson
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Vehicle telematics data: The forensic implications of legally obtaining data from vehicles and the applicable procedures for doing so
Gemma Jeffries
Biomanufacturing
Investigation of the role of microbiota in wound healing process
Javeria Mehboob
Biomanufacturing
Share selective characterisation of complex formulations using ion mobility based mass spectrometry approaches
Maria O'Hanlon
Disease specific research
The roles of mitochondrial proteins in Parkinson's disease
David Oluwadare
Biomanufacturing
Evaluation of uptake and utilization of soil available zinc in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) from seaweed fertilizer application: Employment of isotopic technique
Birbal Prasad
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
System analysis and biomarker discovery for gliomas in silico study
Agatha Quesnel
Disease specific research
Deciphering the potential interplay between matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and the mucin 4 (MUC 4) in glioblastoma molecular mechanisms and diagnostics
Janice Rafraf
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Regulation of illegal imagery
Chris Robinson
Biomanufacturing
The development of phosphine/phosphine oxide redox-based organocatalyst
Cassy Ross
Disease specific research
Using ‘omic’ approaches for better understanding of microbial mediated disease in mothers and preterm Infants
Nafeesa Shahdab
Disease specific research
Novel approaches to target airway epithelium remodelling in asthmatics
Anirudh Sharma
Biomanufacturing
Applications of shape selective mass spectrometry
Rebecca Strong
Digital Analytics and Machine Learning
Application of geometric morphometric analysis to the identification process of unknown individuals
Muta Tah Hira
Disease specific research
An integrated experimental modelling and machine learning framework for poly-omic characterisation of ovarian cancer
Aboli Valve
Biomanufacturing
A study on transfer and persistence of textiles in the archaeological environment