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IoPPN Postdoc Network

Post-Doc Network Committee Members

     postdoc group picture

Each department now has a post-doc representative who will feed into departmental meetings about post-doc issues. If you have any questions or want to get involved, contact the post-doc champions or your departmental rep below.

Post-Doc Champions

Despoina Goniotaki | Postdoc RIC Champion

 Despoina 


Despoina is currently working as a postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience (BCN), producing and characterising cellular and animal models of neurodegeneration. 

She has served as the BCN rep and has been actively involved in the ‘postdoc matters’ platform to motivate early career researchers and facilitate networking between postdocs, funding bodies, communication agencies and industry (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/depts/bcn/events/postdoc-matters/about-postdoc-matters.aspx) .

In her capacity as Postdoc Champion she is passionate to foster a thriving research community and facilitate a productive and rewarding environment for early career researchers. 

Despoina is also the IoPPN representative on the Research and Innovation Committee (RIC) and the Early Career Research Award panel, and is chairing the RIC Postdoc subcgroup.

despoina.goniotaki@kcl.ac.uk

Sara Villa Hernandez | Postdoc D&I Champion


Sara is a postdoctoral fellow at Denk lab and postdoc rep at Wolfson CARD. She investigates the molecular basis of the transition to chronic pain and she is an identified DNA nerd. 

Apart from having fun in the lab, she enjoys baking sourdough, hiking and yoga. You can find more about her advocacy work in chronic pain and her recent interest/obsession in Open Science in her Twitter account, @VillaScience. 

sara.villa@kcl.ac.uk

Maria Elisa (Melisa) Cerrano Navacerrada | Postdoc CRSD Champion

 


 

maria.serrano_navacerrada@kcl.ac.uk

  

Post-Doctoral Reps 

Basak Tas | Addiction Sciences (Rep) Emma Smith | Addiction Sciences (Rep) Chiara de Lucia | Basic & Clinical Neuroscience (Rep)

 

Chiara completed her BSc in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Southampton followed by her MSc in Neuroscience at King's College London. She then carried out her PhD in the Thuret laboratory at the Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience of King's College London.

Her research is aimed at understanding the process of adult neurogenesis in the context of health and disease. During her PhD, she focussed on the impact of nutrition and lifestyle on neurogenesis and cognition during ageing using both epidemiological and wet lab methodologies. Chiara is currently working  with Dr Thuret and Prof. Aarsland on the “ACID” clinical trial which is aimed at delineating the therapeutic potential of anthocyanin supplementation in older adults at risk for dementia.

chiara.de_lucia@kcl.ac.uk

Saskia Pollack | Basic & Clinical Neuroscience (Rep)

I am a post-doc funded by the Alzheimer’s Society and I have just joined as a post doc rep for the Department of Basic and Clinical Neurosciences. My research interests include protein aggregation and lysosomal dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases and my current project is investigating the effect of a pathogenic fragment of tau on lysosomes. I am really  looking forward to getting involved in organising post doc events and working with you to ensure your needs are being met by the department.

saskia.pollack@kcl.ac.uk

Niahm O' Brien | Basic & Clinical Neuroscience (Rep)

 


jniahm.obrien@kcl.ac.uk

Daniel Solomon | Basic & Clinical Neuroscience (Rep) Judith Dineley| Biostatistics & Health Informatics (Rep) Konstantinos Lagogiannis | Centre for Developmental Neurobiology (Rep) Jeronimo Jurado Arjona | Centre for Developmental Neurobiology (Rep) Zuo Zhang | Centre for Social Genetics and Developmental Psychiatry

 

 I'm a postdoc researcher at the SGDP centre, and a member of the ESTRA  study that aims at earlier detection and stratification of eating disorders and comorbid mental illnesses.

zuo.zhang@kcl.ac.uk

TBC| Child and Adult Psychiatry (Rep)

 ......

@kcl.ac.uk

Jennifer Cooke | Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences (Rep)

 

 I am a Postdoc working in the Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences Department. My main focus is investigating syndromic forms of autism linked to synaptic genes and intellectual disability (ID). I am currently studying the natural history of Phelan McDermid Syndrome (PMS) and working to identify neurocognitive markers linked to genotype that can explain individual variability in autism. My specialized skills include EEG analysis, statistical modelling, and conducting clinical assessments with individuals who have complex needs, such as autism and ID.

jennifer.cooke@kcl.ac.uk

Amy Goodwin | Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences (Rep) Charlotte Gayer-Anderson| Health Services and Population Research (Rep)

 

Eilidh MacNicol | Neuroimaging (Rep) Olivia Kowalczyc| Neuroimaging (Rep) Zunera.Khan | Old Age Psychiatry Christina Pearce | Psycholoy (Rep)

 I am “new” to KCL having joined the department in October 2020 as a research associate working on the Mood Maps project.

I previously completed my PhD at UCL focusing on adherence in paediatric asthma and my research interests are in long-term condition management and the psychological impact of living with a chronic condition. 

Health Psychology – Guy’s Campus (Bermondsey Wing, 5th floor, Room 500)

Christina.pearce@kcl.ac.uk

Tessel Bazelmans | Psycholoy (Rep) Rebecca Rhead | Psychological Medicine & Psychosis Studies (Rep)

 

Sara Villa Hernandez | Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases (Rep)


Sara is a postdoctoral fellow at Denk lab and postdoc rep at Wolfson CARD. She investigates the molecular basis of the transition to chronic pain and she is an identified DNA nerd. 

Apart from having fun in the lab, she enjoys baking sourdough, hiking and yoga. You can find more about her advocacy work in chronic pain and her recent interest/obsession in Open Science in her Twitter account, @VillaScience. 


sara.villa@kcl.ac.uk

Mateusz W. Kucharczyk | Wolfson CARD (Rep)

Mateusz, aka Mesh, is a postdoc at the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases, IoPPN. He did his PhD (2019) in biophysical neuroscience and neuropharmacology at UCL. He is interested in pain perception and what defines it. In particular, he explores how does the brain control nociception by top-down modulation. Currently he studies that in the context of neuropathic and cancer pain using in vivo electrophysiology, optical imaging and optogenetics. See more at: www.mateuszk.com  @matwku

mateusz.kucharczyk@kcl.ac.uk

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