Current members
Roberto A Steiner
Professor
I got my Degree in Chemistry from the University of Padova and then moved on to study for my PhD in structural biology at the University of Groningen. This was then followed by a postdoc in crystallographic methods development at the York Structural Biology Laboratory. In 2006 I started my own lab at King's College London (KCL) and since 2021 I am also Full Professor at the University of Padova.
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You can follow me on Instagram as @roberto_a_steiner.​​
Elisa Peirano
Master/PhD student (2022-now)
​Elisa has a Degree in Biotechnology from the University of Padova. Currently she's using various biophysical methods to elucidate aspects of kinesin-1 function. Her Swiss roots help keeping stuff organised in the lab. More or less.
Lisa Sofia Pozzer
Research Assistant (2023-now)
​Sofia got her Degree in Medical and Molecular Biotechnology from the University of Verona. She is now working on a number of kinesin-related projects and just managed to reconstitute a very kewl complex!
Michele Di Palma
Master/PhD student (2022-now)
​Michele got his Degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology (magna cum laude) from the University of Padova. For his undergrad project in my lab he has been awarded the Evotec Prize and the AIC (Associazione Italiana Cristallografia) Prize. His project is on antibiotic resistance.
Marco Leusciatti
Postdoc (2024-now)
Marco got his undergrad and then his PhD degrees in Chemistry from the University of Pavia. Skilled experimental and computational scientist, Marco is injecting chemical knowledge into various projects. This is part of a wonderful collaboration with Giulia Morra at CNR-SCITEC in Milan.
Former group members
Magda Chegkazi
Postdoc (2017-2021)
Magda studied Biochemistry in Athens before obtaining her PhD in Natural Sciences at the EMBL-Hamburg/University of Heidelberg. After a few years in my lab, Magda got a position at Elixir.
Soi Bui
Postdoc (2011-2020)
Soi got his PhD from the University of Manchester working on P450 enzymes. In the lab he moved forward enzymology studies funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). He is now working on cryo-EM projects in the Bergeron Lab at KCL.
Stefano Pernigo
Postdoc (2011-2017)
Stefano stayed in the lab after his PhD working on projects funded first by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and then by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). After about 10 years he left my lab to join Charles River Laboratories and he is now scientific researcher at ALBA synchrotron near Barcelona.
Dina Fotinou
Postdoc (2013-2014)
A very experienced postdoc who also worked on the PP1/Nox4 project. Now Research Administrator at the Institute of Glycobiology in Oxford.
Jolanta Kopec
Postdoc (2012-2013)
Jola got her PhD from TU Berlin and joined the lab from Karolinska to work on the PP1/Nox4 project in collaboration with the lab of Prof Ajay Shah at KCL. Super-organised postdoc. Now senior scientist at Evotec.
Ivan Campeotto
Postdoc (2011)
Passionate crystallographer. After a short period in the lab he moved to Imperial College and then Oxford. Now a group leader at Nottingham University.
Bruno Gagliardo
Postdoc (2010-2013)
Bruno worked successfully on a membrane protein industrial project in collaboration with the Swiss company Vifor International. He then left the bench and after many years in Asia he is now Head of Data Analytics at Sanofi.
Past PhD students
Lucrezia Catapano
PhD student (2018-2020)
Lucrezia has a Degree in Biology from the University of Salerno. Her PhD project was funded by CCP4 and led to the implementation of neutron crystallographic refinement methods in Refmac5. This was a close collaboration with the Murshudov group at the MRC-LMB in Cambridge. After her PhD, Lucrezia started a postdoc position with Paul Emsley (also MRC-LMB, Cambridge) working on the molecular graphics package Coot1.
Lindsay McGregor
PhD student (2017-2020)
Lindsay studied Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh. Her neutron crystallography project meant that she worked at the ILL in Grenoble close to the reactor. After her PhD she remained in Grenoble working at the ESRF.
Laura Fin
PhD student (2012-2016)
Laura studied Biotechnology at the University of Verona. After her PhD she left London for Dundee and is now Research Assistant at the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna.
Louise Saul
PhD Student (2007-2011)
Louise studied Biochemistry at the University of Bath. After her PhD Louise stayed at KCL for a bit as a postdoc in the Karagiannis Lab. Following a period in Scotland she is now postdoc in oncoimmunology the University of Southampton.
Stefano Pernigo
PhD Student (2007-2011)
Stefano studied Biotechnology at the University of Verona. His PhD thesis was on the structure and interaction of M-band muscle proteins. Stefano remained in the lab as postdoc for several years after his PhD (see slightly older Stefano in the postdoc section).
Guest PhD students
Giulia Glorani
PhD student (2017-2018)
Registered for a 3-year PhD at the University of Verona, Giulia ended up spending one year in my lab working on kinesin-1 and contributing to our 2018 eLife paper. She then moved for her first postdoc to the Neu Lab at the Freie Universität Berlin working on structural glycovirology.
Master students
The lab has had the privilege of hosting several excellent Master students for typically 6-8 months long projects. Here is a semi-complete list (apologies if I have forgotten someone...)
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Mr Samuel Lowden (went on to train and work as a patent attorney)
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Mr Conor Tracey (went on to do a PhD in the Ameer-Lab at KCL)
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Miss Fiona Shilliday (BBSRC rotation student - went on for her final project in the Moores lab at Birkbeck)
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Miss Anka Lucic (went on to do a PhD at the University of Oxford in the Schofield lab)
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Miss Mengjia Zhu (went on to work at a biotech in China)
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Miss Helen Armes (went on to do a PhD at the University of Sussex)
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Miss Lucy Vyletova (went on to work at the Institute of Cancer Research in the Wigley lab)
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Undergrad project students
Many many many good ones. You know who you are.
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© 2021 by Roberto A. Steiner