Group Leader
Graham Ladds PhD FBPhS
Professor in Receptor Pharmacology and fellow of St John’s college. Fellow of the British Pharmacological society
Email: grl30@cam.ac.uk
Twitter: @GpcrL
Postdoctoral Research Fellows
Dr Peace Atakpa
Peace was awarded a BSc in Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool before joining the group. Her PhD focussed on Ca2+ handling by lysosomes, with particular interests in the interactions between the endoplasmic reticulum and lysosomes. Peace now holds a junior research fellowship with Emmanuel College and continues to study the dynamics of organellar Ca2+ handling. Email: pa376@cam.ac.uk
Dr Matthew Harris Matt completed his BBSRC funded PhD in 2019. His work focused on investigating the role that receptor activity modifying proteins (RAMPs) and small molecules play in modulating gastric inhibitory polypeptide receptor (GIPR) signalling. Matt is now a junior research fellow of St Edmund’s College, and his post-doctoral research continues to explore the effects of RAMPs on GPCR function.
Email: mh702@cam.ac.uk
Dr David Prole
David studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge before exploring the structure and function of K
Email: dp350@cam.ac.uk
Dr Ana Rossi
Senior Research Associate and Fellow of Queens' College
After undergraduate studies in Argentina, Ana completed her PhD in 2007 and was appointed to a junior research fellowship at Queens' College. Ana has worked on various aspects of IP3 receptor behaviour, including the characterization of novel partial agonists, defining the structural determinants of ligand binding to IP3 receptors and unravelling the mechanisms underlaying quantal Ca2+ release: namely the ability of cells to evoke rapid Ca2+ signals that are graded with stimulus intensity. Ana’s current work focuses on understanding the role of Ca2+ signals in the invasion of glioma cells through patients’ brains and identifying druggable targets to stop invasion. Ana supervises Part IA Biology of Cells and is Director of Studies for Part II Pharmacology at Queens' College. Email: amr50@cam.ac.uk
Dr Dewi Safitri For her PhD she worked on modulation of cAMP through PDE inhibition and its therapeutic potential. Her current post-doctoral project is investigating glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor (GIPR) pharmacology and how it is influenced by RAMP association. The project is conducted with Takeda Pharmaceutical as the industrial partner.
Email: ds791@cam.ac.uk
Twitter: @dewi_safitri_88
Lab Manager
Dr Emily Taylor
Emily read biological sciences at the University of East Anglia and completed her PhD in plant pathology at Nottingham University. After postdoctoral work in Brazil, she held senior scientific posts in molecular plant pathology at the NIAB in Cambridge. Emily joined the department in 2002 as a lab manager. She has specific skills in molecular biology, immunomethods and high-throughput analyses of Ca2+ signalling. Her present research is concerned with the role of KRAP and its interactions with IP3R in intracellular Ca2+ and signalling in human cell lines. Email: ejat2@cam.ac.uk.
Graduate students
Jing
Jing is a PhD student funded by the Cambridge Trust and Newnham College Scholarship. Her work is investigating the role of IP3Rs and Ca2+ signals during mitosis. By applying microscopy and molecular biology methods, she focuses specifically on how IP3Rs and Ca2+ participate in spindle orientation.
Ms Abigail Pearce Abi is a BBSRC iCASE student at King’s College, in partnership with AstraZeneca. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge, before beginning her PhD in 2018. She looks at the signalling at the Glucagon subfamily of GPCRs, focusing on the Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP1R) and how its interactions with other proteins regulate insulin secretion.
Email: ap847@cam.ac.uk
Twitter: @abi_pearce96
Ms Claudia Sisk
Claudia is a PhD student funded by Cambridge Trust and Gonville & Caius College. She completed her undergraduate degree in bioengineering at Clemson University before starting her PhD in 2022. Her research looks into profiling the activation pathways of P2Y receptors and their effects on inflammation and platelet aggregation.
Email: cms226@cam.ac.uk
Twitter: @cleerdia
Miss Holly Smith
Holly is a graduate student at Darwin College, supported by a BBSRC iCASE award. Holly completed her BSc in Biomedical Science at the University of Sheffield, and joined the Taylor lab in 2018 for her PhD. She is working on understanding the generation and termination of local Ca2+ signals evoked by IP3 receptors using high-resolution fluorescence microscopy, in partnership with Cairn Research.
Email: has54@cam.ac.uk
Twitter: @HollyASmith_488
Ms Anna Suchankova Anna is a PhD student funded by the Cambridge Trust. She completed her undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, starting her PhD in 2019. She looks at allosteric modulators of GPCR signalling, focusing on the gastric inhibitory polypeptide receptor (GIPR), as well as the adenosine family of receptors.
Email: as2268@cam.ac.uk
Mr Matthew Rosa
Matt is a PhD student funded by AstraZeneca. He completed his Undergraduate and Masters degrees at the University of Aberdeen, before starting his PhD in 2020. He looks at the family 1 taste receptors, specifically those contributing to ‘sweet’ chemosensing, and how these can be tuned in order to develop a glucose biosensor.
Email: mr857@cam.ac.uk
Mr Theo Redfern-Nichols Theo is a BBSRC iCASE PhD student at Wolfson College, in partnership with AstraZeneca. He completed his undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge before beginning his PhD in 2020. He is interested in GPCR bias signalling. Specifically, Theo is investigating the Calcitonin Receptor-like Receptor (CLR) and its interactions with receptor activity modifying proteins (RAMPs).
Email: tr428@cam.ac.uk
Adelina Ivanova
Adelina joined the Taylor lab in 2020 as a graduate student, exploring the role of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphare in the regulation of Ca2+ signals evoked by IP3 receptors. She is a member of Wolfson College and her PhD is supported by a Cambridge European, Department of Pharmacology & Wolfson Medical Research Scholarship. Prior to her PhD studies, Adelina completed an integrated MChem in Medicinal and Biological Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh with an Industrial Placement at AstraZeneca.
Mr Edward Wills
Ned is a PhD student funded through the EPSRC Sensor CDT by AstraZeneca. After completing his MSci in Neuroscience at University College London, he studied an MRes in Sensor Technologies here at Cambridge before beginning his PhD in 2021. Ned aims to develop novel molecular biosensors for intracellular GPCR signalling pathways, with a focus on high throughput drug screening.
Email: ehw34@cam.ac.uk
Ms Xianglin (Rosalind) Huang
Rosalind developed great interest in receptor pharmacology during her undergraduate in Pharmacology and Systems Biology in Natural sciences at University of Cambridge. She is funded by CSC Cambridge International Scholarship and starts her PhD in 2021. Her project is to understand the interactions and mechanisms of regulation between GPCRs, ligands and G proteins/β-arrestin/RAMPs by employing both computational and pharmacological approaches.
Email: xh290@cam.ac.uk
Mr Abdelhamid Yousef
After undergraduate studies in pharmacy in Egypt, a Master’s degree from the University of Skövde, and a short visit as an ERASMUS student to this lab, Yousef began his PhD studies in early 2019. He is working on the mobility of IP3 receptors. His studies are supported by a Cambridge International Scholarship. ay322@cam.ac.uk
Lab alumni
Post-2010
Dr Liliya Kopanitsa, former post-doctoral visitor
Mr Tim Noel, former MPhil student, applying for PhD places
Ms Sabrina Carvalho, former PhD student, currently a Research Scientist at AstraZeneca
Dr Kerry Barkan, former post-doc and PhD student, currently a Research Scientist at Sosei Heptares
Dr Ashley Clark, former PhD student
Dr Ho Yan Yeung, former PhD student, currently a post-doc at Copenhagen University
Mr Hitoshi Yamauchi, former MPhil student
Dr Ian Winfield, former post-doc and PhD student, currently Team Leader at Domainex
Dr Alex Esparza-Franco, former PhD student, currently Scientific Officer at Micropathology Ltd
Dr Cathryn Weston, post-doc and PhD student, currently Career Development Fellow for Asthma UK, University of Leicester
Dr Catherine Richardson, former PhD student, currently Associate Consultant, Healthcare
Dr Anthony Knight, former PhD student, left Science to become an accountant
Pre-2010
Ms Jannette Bennett
Dr Wayne Croft
Dr Antonio Lock
Dr Louise Godfrey
Dr Benjamin Smith
Dr Claire Hill
Dr Rachel Forfar