ALUMNI
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Sydney Porto
Ocean Tsang
Simona Valeviciute
Luis Bermúdez-Guzmán
Carol Mendonça
Anthony Coyne
Shrina Patel
James Clarke
Teresa Augustin
Greta Markert
LAB WIZARDS
Biography
Mohan Sun is an MPhil student in Dr. Pau Creixell’s lab at the University of Cambridge, where he focuses on screening kinase inhibitors for glioblastoma. He previously completed his undergraduate studies at Cambridge, conducting his final-year research project in the same lab, investigating the incorporation of non-canonical amino acids into a bacterial peptide display system. His research interests lie in the development of small-molecule therapeutics, with the ultimate goal of contributing to cancer treatment and global health.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
A sporty adventurer who’s quick on the tennis court in summer and carves up the slopes in winter.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Peptide inhibitors, High-Throughput Screening, Peptide Display and Amber codon Suppression.
MAGIC SPELL
We did not really live authentically, unless we do confront this fact of our ultimate death, and deliberately, and fully choose the kind of life we want to have, in the face of it.
KRYPTONITE
Insufficient sleep or food.
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTE
“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return home.”
Sian graduated from the University of York with a BSc in Biomedical Sciences. Following this, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute investigating RNA modifications in acute myeloid leukaemia. Sian is now a PhD student in the Creixell Lab, where she is exploring novel kinase signalling pathways in chronic myeloid leukaemia.
WIZARD FEATURES
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Molecular and cell biology, investigating leukemogenesis.
MAGIC SPELL
"If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research would it" - Albert Einstein
KRYPTONITE
Being on time.
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND QUOTE
"It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." - Charles Darwin "The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." - Nelson Mandela
BIOGRAPHY
JJ works at the interface of computational protein design, signalling biology, and nanobody engineering. He completed his BSc at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Now an A*STAR National Science Scholar in the Creixell Lab, JJ employs computational modelling, protein sequence analysis, and experimental screening to engineer nanobodies against phosphorylation-dependent epitopes. He is broadly interested in how data-driven protein engineering can create new classes of functional binders for studying disease biology and developing future therapeutic platforms.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
Badminton is a lot like science; you keep hitting back at whatever unexpected shots thrown your way until a result is obtained.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Computational biophysics, protein dynamics
MAGIC SPELL
"But nature did not deem it her business to make the discovery of her laws easy for us" — Albert Einstein "If you torture the data long enough, it will confess" — Ronald Coase
KRYPTONITE
>30°C weather
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTES:
Open-mindedness "Science at its best is an open-minded method of inquiry, not a belief system" – Rupert Sheldrake
BIOGRAPHY
Amelia is a PhD student who graduated from her Bsc in Biochemistry from the University of Bath. She completed an industrial placement at the Cancer Research UK AstraZencea antibody alliance lab where she had a fantastic time developing a biological PROTAC. Now she is interested in how understanding protein-protein interactions in the Creixell lab can be used to design targeted therapeutics.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
Swimming, running, cycling
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Smile and the world smiles with you
MAGIC SPELL
If you fold a piece of paper 32 times it will reach the moon
KRYPTONITE
Loosing things
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTES:
The same water that softens pasta hardens an egg. It’s not about your environment that matters, its how you react to it.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
Like Naruto, Ramen is my soul as well.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Cancer signaling explorer
MAGIC SPELL
- No matter how high the mountain is, one can always ascend to its top
- No shortcut is the best shortcut
- SNP: Simple, Naive, and Pure
KRYPTONITE
- "Give up"
- "You are not able to do it"
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTE:
"Life is not easy for any of us. But so what? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted with something and that this thing must be achieved." - Marie Curie
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
Functional and structural characterizations of leukemogenic driver MEF2D fusion
Zhang M, Zhang H, Li ZH, Bai L, Wang QQ, Li JF, Jiang MH, Xue Q, Cheng N, Zhang WN, Mao DD, Chen ZM, Huang JY, Meng GY, Chen Z, Chen SJ
Blood (2022)
140(12): 1390-1407
DNA crosslinking and recombination-activating genes 1/2 (RAG1/2) are required for oncogenic splicing in acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Zhang H*, Cheng N*, Li ZH*, Bai L*, Fang CL, Li YW, Zhang WN, Dong X, Jiang MH, Liang Y, Zhang SJ, Mi JQ, Zhu J, Zhang Y, Chen SJ, Zhao YJ, Weng XQ, Hu WG, Chen Z, Huang JY, Meng GY.
Cancer Communications (2021)
41(11):1116-1136
Crystal structure of the GTP-binding protein-like domain of AGAP1
Cheng N, Zhang H, Zhang SY, Ma XD, Meng GY
Acta Crystallographica Section F: Structural Biology Communications (2021)
77(4): 105-112
B1 oligomerization regulates PML nuclear body biogenesis and leukemogenesis
Li YW, Ma XD, Chen ZM, Wu HY, Wang PR, Wu WW, Cheng N, Zeng LH, Zhang H, Cai X, Chen SJ, Chen Z, Meng GY
Nature communications (2019)
10(1): 1-13
DUX4HD2-DNAERG structure reveals new insight into DUX4-Responsive-Element
Dong X*, Zhang H*, Cheng N*, Li KN, Meng GY
Leukemia (2018)
33(2): 550
BIOGRAPHY
Mingxuan has recently completed studying Chemistry with Molecular Physics Master’s Program at Imperial College London, where he specialised in robotic chemistry and computational chemistry for drug design. He came top in the year – the best chemistry student in the whole of London, 2021. He is now at Cambridge Universtiy working towards his PhD in Pau Creixell’s group.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
The Medicine Buddha Pagoda in Nanjing makes me reminisce of my home far, far away. Its spirit also reminds me to dedicate myself to improving medical approaches to ease suffering in this world.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Molecular biophysics and experimental drug discovery
MAGIC SPELL
- Procrastination is the thief of all time!
- The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step
KRYPTONITE
I cannot stand long beans, especially if they are undercooked. Too rubbery!
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTE:
- Truth in science can be defined as the working hypothesis best suited to open the way to the next better one – Konrad Lorenz
- I like people who are motivated and free from distractions.
BIOGRAPHY
Gerard is a postdoctoral researcher interested in protein design and cancer signalling networks. During his PhD he studied membrane proteins from a biophysical point of view, using molecular biology and biochemistry tools. He spent some time at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he worked on membrane protein design projects regarding apoptosis. He has now joined Pau Creixell’s lab at the CRUK-Cambridge Institute.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
When I have free time I like to cook. Cooking, like science, is about following protocols. Sometimes it works out well, but other times it doesn't.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Membrane proteins. Nice figure design.
MAGIC SPELL
“Science is not about building a body of known “facts”. It is a method for asking awkward questions and subjecting them to a reality-check, thus avoiding the human tendency to believe whatever makes us feel good” – Terry Pratchett
KRYPTONITE
Cold weather / dichotomies
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTES:
Thinking outside the box.
- "Nothing is impossible. We merely don't know how to do it yet" – Thomas Eddison
- “Do not have more convictions than those that are decidedly essential” – Joan Fuster
- “Belief is the wound that knowledge heals” – Ursula K. Le Guin
- “Description begins in the writer’s imagination but should finish in the readers” – Stephen King
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
Computational design of BclxL inhibitors that target transmembrane domain interactions.
Duart, G, Elazar, A, Weinstein, JJ, Gadea-Salom, L, Ortiz-Mateu, J, Fleishman, SJ, Mingarro, I & Martinez-Gil, L
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
120, e2219648120 (2023)
Intra-Helical Salt Bridge Contribution to Membrane Protein Insertion.
Duart, G, Lamb, J, Ortiz-Mateu, J, Elofsson, A & Mingarro, I
Journal of Molecular Biology
434, 167467 (2022)
Viral Bcl2s’ transmembrane domain interact with host Bcl2 proteins to control cellular apoptosis
García-Murria, MJ*, Duart, G*, Grau, B, Diaz-Benitez, E, Rodríguez, D, Mingarro, I & Martinez-Gil, L
Nature Communications
11, 6056 (2020)
BIOGRAPHY
Mihkel is a postdoctoral research fellow who is interested in (unravelling and targeting) protein signalling networks. His PhD work in the University of Tartu in Estonia was on protein phosphorylation in yeast cell cycle. He then joined the Institute of Cancer Research in London to characterise motif-mediated protein-protein interactions in a high-throughput manner. He joined Pau Creixell’s lab with a Horizon Europe Guarantee MSCA postdoctoral fellowship to investigate the therapeutic potential of targeting dynamic protein-protein interactions.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
In my free time I enjoy hiking and exploring new areas
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Short linear motifs in signal processing
MAGIC SPELL
"Intelligence is knowing the right answer. Wisdom is knowing when to say it." - Tim Fargo
KRYPTONITE
Unmotivated people, mushy peas
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTES:
Resourcefulness
- " "There are many means", said granny when she was wiping the table with the cat." - Finnish saying
- "A bit of madness is key to give us new colors to see. Who knows where it will lead us?" - Mia in La La Land
- "The measure of intelligence is the ability to change." ― Albert Einstein
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
The Eukaryotic Linear Motif resource: 2022 release
Kumar, M., Michael, S., Alvarado-Valverde, J., Meszáros, B., Sámano-Sánchez, H., Zeke, A., Dobson, L., Lazar, T., Örd, M., Nagpal, A., et al.
Nucleic Acids Res.
50, D497. (2022)
Multisite phosphorylation code of CDK
Örd, M., Möll, K., Agerova, A., Kivi, R., Faustova, I., Venta, R., Valk, E., and Loog, M.
Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol.
26, 649–658. (2019)
Cyclin-Specific Docking Mechanisms Reveal the Complexity of M-CDK Function in the Cell Cycle
Örd, M., Venta, R., Möll, K., Valk, E., and Loog, M.
Mol. Cell
75, 76-89.e3. (2019)
BIOGRAPHY
Pau studied Human Biology at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, before moving to Oxford, London and the Technical University of Denmark where he obtained his PhD in Computational Biology.
He then received a postdoctoral fellowship from the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation to pursue his postdoctoral studies at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. After securing a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award from NIH/NCI, he established his lab at the University of Cambridge – CRUK Cambridge Institute in 2020.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
I really enjoy thinking deeply about research questions and how by doing so we can contribute towards improving disease outcomes.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Ab initio protein / peptide / drug design
MAGIC SPELL
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” - Albert Einstein
KRYPTONITE
This will never work / You can’t do it
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTES:
Perseverance
- “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed” - Michael Jordan
- "The job is not done” - Michael Jordan
- "Hustle beats talent when talent doesn't hustle” - Ross Simmonds
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
Exploiting temporal collateral sensitivity in tumor clonal evolution
Cell
(2016), 165(1), 234–246
Unmasking determinants of specificity in the human kinome
Cell
(2015), 163(1), 187–201
Kinome-wide decoding of network-attacking mutations rewiring cancer signaling
Cell
(2015), 163(1), 202–217
