Congratulations to (pictured left to right):
Sarah Gooding is a Clinician Scientist based in the Chapman Group in the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. She has worked in the MRC WIMM since 2013, carrying out her DPhil in the Drakesmith group and postdoc in the Vyas group. Sarah joined the Chapman group in 2021 to focus on the interaction between genome instability and poor outcomes in multiple myeloma – a type of bone marrow cancer.
Sarah's research aims to better understand why the multiple myeloma remains incurable, despite better and novel therapies becoming available in recent years. Sarah is also an honorary consultant specialising in myeloma in Oxford University Hospitals Haematology department.
Sarah is a Wellcome Trust Clinical Career Development Fellow and Honorary Consultant Urological Surgeon working at the Churchill Hospital, Oxford. Her clinical and research interest is kidney stone disease.
Sarah studied medicine at Cambridge and Oxford Universities between 1999 and 2005, and since qualification has worked in the Oxford region, entering the Urology training scheme in 2010. In 2011 she was awarded the Wellcome Trust Clinical Training Fellowship, joining Professor Thakker's group as a DPhil student. She defended her thesis in 2015 and continued as a clinical academic between 2015 and 2020 as an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Urology. Sarah took up her current post with the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences in 2021. Her Wellcome fellowship is co-administered by the RDM and NDS.
Sarah aims to understand the biological basis of kidney stone disease. She has been using genomic techniques in large data sets to identify common kidney stone causing variants, and define causal pathways. Her long-term goal is to establish a precision medicine framework for the management of individuals with kidney stone disease.
Abdullah did his PhD at the University of Birmingham where his work focused on CRISPR-based single molecule imaging and modelling inherited thrombocytopenia using iPSC derived megakaryocytes. This work led to the development of CRISPR PALM, a single molecule imaging method based on the endogenous expression of photoswitchable tags, and a study which reported on novel post-translational tubulin modifications essential to platelet production. He then won a Sir Henry Wellcome fellowship under the joint sponsorship of Prof Steve Watson (Birmingham), Bethan Psaila (Oxford) and Kellie Machlus (Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School) to develop a human bone marrow organoid system.
Abdullah's research focuses on the development of novel 3D models and their applications in the study of disease. In particular, he is interested in how niche or stromal cells maintain healthy blood and immune cell production, and how change to those niches, whether because of age or disease, can lead to immune dysfunction.
Dr Pramila Rijal obtained her PhD from the University of Oxford in 2017 under the supervision of Professor Alain Townsend. Her doctoral research focused on the human monoclonal antibody (mAb) response to influenza and Ebola viruses following natural infection or vaccination. One key finding, derived from studying 157 mAbs from a single human along with polyclonal sera from a broader population, was that mAbs predominantly targeting a single antigenic site may drive the virus to mutate at that site, leading to antigenic drift.
With over ten years of dedicated research experience, Pramila has demonstrated expertise in antibody and vaccine development for combating infectious diseases. She helped advance research on the single-cycle live attenuated influenza vaccine ("S-FLU"). During the COVID-19 pandemic, she contributed to numerous impactful studies involving monoclonal antibody characterization, vaccine development, and serological assays against SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, she characterized antibodies in pig influenza model through collaborative work.
Currently, her research primarily focuses on the influenza neuraminidase (NA) protein, where she applies her expertise to identify vulnerable antigenic sites on the NA surface, leads neuraminidase-based vaccine development, and collaborates on discovering novel drugs targeting NA.
Dr Jack Tan obtained his DPhil at Oxford University (Gill & Hyde group) before joining the Townsend group in 2018 at the MRC WIMM as a postdoc, where he focused on developing non-replicating viral vaccines for influenza.
His current research focuses on developing next-generation protein nanoparticle-based vaccines and antibody therapeutics against infectious diseases. He is particularly interested in understanding how the architecture of protein nanoparticle vaccines influences their immunogenicity, as well as investigating mucosal vaccine immunity to improve vaccine design against respiratory pathogens.
Dr Tan is part of an international consortium (Oxford-Caltech-CPI-Ingenza) funded by the Coalition of Epidemics Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop novel a pan-sarbecovirus (SARS-like betacoronavirus) nanoparticle vaccine. He is a Career Development Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences-Oxford Institute (COI) and a Fellow by Special Election at St Edmund Hall.
Criteria for being a designated a Principal Investigator in RDM
Researchers are eligible to apply for PI designation if they meet one of the following criteria:
- Holds an intermediate level fellowship awarded in open competition from a major external funder;
- Holds significant funding in their own name, including as Co-Investigator, commensurate with their field of work and awarded in open competition from external funders;
- Has been awarded the title of University Research Lecturer (URL) or Associate Professor (AP) or holds a more senior appointment.
In addition, researchers must also demonstrate via their current CV that they have substantial independent achievements in research and teaching, and make contributions to 'good citizenship' within RDM and the wider University.
More information about the role of PI in RDM and applying for PI status can be found on the Principal Investigator Guidelines webpages.