As an immunologist, my research focusses on understanding how pathogens and our immune system interact and affect each other. I started working on infectious diseases during my Master’s project in Martin Rottenberg’s lab at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, where I interrogated immune signaling cascades during tuberculosis infection. During my PhD with Ajit Lalvani at Imperial College London, I continued to work on TB and the early post-infection events with a focus on primary human airway epithelial cells. As a post-doc in Dr. Clare Jolly’s lab I study immune regulation at the T cell virological synapse induced during HIV infection. When I’m not pipetting, I am spending my time playing volleyball or doing archery.

In my research I am primarily interested in host-pathogen interactions and how these affect the function of the immune system. Specifically, I use HIV as a tool to probe T cell biology and to further define mechanisms that control T cell signalling and activation. The main aim of my work is to better understand T cell biology and to gain further insight into how the immune system functions in health and disease.
I've been with Clare since I started my PhD project where I investigated how HIV protein Nef affects T cell activation during viral cell-cell spread. It is what sparked my interest in immunobiology and host-pathogen interactions. During the pandemic I focused on how SARS-CoV-2 interacts with different host restriction factors. Currently I'm investigating how HIV triggers signalling during cell-cell spread to drive increased nuclear import and infection of resting T cells and how we can translate this knowledge to better understand normal T cell biology.

I am a biochemist interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate gene expression. During my PhD in Professor Alexandra Moreira's lab at i3S, I studied the RNA biology of the Drosophila melanogaster polo gene. I demonstrated that a small region in polo's 3’UTR controls polo expression, Polo protein levels and respective kinase activity. As a Research Scientist in Professor Matthias Merkenschlager's group at the London Institute of Medical Sciences, I investigated the role of the transcription factor Myc and two of its partners, Max and Mad1, in genome architecture in primary mouse macrophages. I am now a Research Fellow in Professor Clare Jolly’s lab focused on studying the molecular mechanisms that HIV-1 employs to hijack the human T-cell transcriptional machinery to promote efficient infection, viral spread and persistence. Outside of the lab, I am happily reading and exploring London whenever it doesn't rain. I also volunteer as a STEM Ambassador, where I share my career experiences with the next generation.

I completed an undergraduate degree in Biology, with a minor in Biochemistry, along with a second degree in Environmental Science at McMaster University in Canada. Following this, I enrolled in the Clinical and Molecular Microbiology MSc program at the University of Nottingham, where I was able to exploit my interest on how the environment affects human health by screening for potential bacteriocins isolated from environmental bacteria with the ability to inhibit the growth of Clostridium difficile. I am now a PhD student in Prof. Clare Jolly’s lab, where I hope to gain a better understanding of how the HIV viral accessory protein, Vpr,  plays a role in reprogramming resting T cells following infection, and how this induces long lasting effects on T cell function. When I am not in the lab, I enjoy running and finding new places to explore in the city.