Meet the Year 2 President's Scholars

Name: Arshad Kalathil Ashik

Department: Mechanical Engineering

Title of Research: A fluid-solid interaction fully coupled model to predict cartilage rehydration. 

Email: a.kalathil-ashik22@imperial.ac.uk
Personal Web Page address:  https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/a.kalathil-ashik22
Supervisor(s): Prof. Daniele Dini, Prof. Carmine Putignano

About me: I’m a PhD student in the Tribology group, Mechanical engineering department at Imperial. As part of my studies, I’m developing cartilage models to study osteoarthritis. Biomechanics is one of my favourite research areas and I love the positive impact that the research in this area makes on human lives. Prior to Imperial, I was working with US agriculture equipment manufacturer, John Deere. I’m from India and did my master’s in mechanical design from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi where I worked on potential biomaterials for hip implants.

Summary of Research: Cartilage degeneration is the leading cause of Osteoarthritis. Currently, there are millions of people around the world affected by arthritis and the origin or triggering factor for cartilage degeneration remains unknown. My work involves developing a cartilage model to study the causes of degeneration. On successfully completing this work, we should be able to predict the optimum amount of activity a person should maintain for a healthy cartilage thereby delaying or avoiding osteoarthritis. Also, the developing model can be used to analyse biomaterial for cartilage replacement.

Research interests: Biomechanics, Tribology, Solid and Fluids.

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: The President’s Scholarship is a prestigious award from Imperial. Apart from the generous financial support it provides opportunities for networking with bright and diverse PhD students and offers career support programs.

Name: Ciara Gibbs

Department: Bioengineering

Title of Research: The Neural Constraints on Human Motor Control for Movement Augmentation 

Email: ciara.gibbs18@imperial.ac.uk
Personal Web Page address:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciara-gibbs-954012198/
Supervisor(s): Dr Juan Gallego, Professor Dario Farina

About me: I am originally from London, and completed my MEng degree in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial, where I specialised in electrical aspects of bioengineering. I studied signal processing, modelling, bioinstrumentation, medical science and much more, the degree is highly interdisciplinary! During my 4 years as an undergraduate student, I worked on different projects, such as 1) building a go-kart for to aid with rehabilitation for infants with Cerebral Palsy, 2) simulating the behaviour of motor neurons and recording them with non-noninvasive electrode techniques and 3) studying the topology of neural activity in the brain across our wake-sleep cycle. These opportunities cultivated collaborations with other researchers outside of Imperial, in industry with Meta, and with charities. Alongside internships across the UK and US, I realised that my academic interest sat at the intersection of Neuroscience and Engineering, leading me to the PhD work I do today.

Summary of Research: The field of sensorimotor science has long been plagued with the question of how the intricacies of the nervous system are mapped and simplified into highly effective control strategies. A fundamental component of movement control is the actuation of the ’motor unit’ (MU), consisting of a spinal alpha motor neuron that innervates a population of muscle fibres. MU activity is described under constraint, due to 1) the reception of common synaptic input and 2) size-orderly recruitment. These constraints motivated hypotheses on what defines the smallest functional degree of freedom in motor control. In turn, the idea of the muscle synergy, where degrees of freedom are multi-muscle activation patterns, gained traction given the ability to resolve issues surrounding motor redundancy. However, it has not sat comfortably with all researchers, particularly since it leaves open the purpose of such extensive evolutionarily preserved neural circuitry. In stark contrast, recent work has attempted to prove control with individual MUs as degrees of freedom, but thus far has been clouded with experimental ambiguity. In seeking a unifying perspective, the notion of a motor neuron synergy was most recently proposed, whereby subpopulations of motor neurons are activated and coordinated through organisation of synaptic input. Whether they truly exist remains unknown, nor whether they would serve as stable degrees of freedom or reorganise across behaviours. If their properties across behaviour are well-defined, motor neuron synergies could serve useful in neuroengineering, offering potential degrees of freedom for augmentation. Ultimately, to effectively address these questions on whether motor neuron subpopulations are viable motor degrees of freedom, we will need to return to the original formulations of MU activity and challenge our understanding on the fundamental neural constraints of human motor control. Thereafter, we will use this understanding to scaffold the notion of a motor neuron synergy and assess their potential for augmentative control.

 Research interests: motor control, neural interfacing, signal processing, electrophysiology

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: The President's PhD scholarship provides an unique opportunity to have complete project autonomy, since the application process involves ideating your own research project. Therefore, the funding does not come with ties from research or industry, allowing you to shape the project direction to your passions over the course of the PhD. It also brings together a community of inspiring young people, through which we can learn more about different research disciplines and partake in workshops together, to build skills outside of our research areas.

Name: Debashis Panda

Department: Chemical Engineering

Title of Research: Surfactant-laden interfacial waves with complex geometries 

Email: debashis.panda21@imperial.ic.ac.uk
Supervisor(s): Omar K Matar

About me: I studied Bachelor in Chemical Engineering at BITS Pilani, India before joining as a Research Associate at IISc Bangalore at Computational and Data Science department.

Summary of Research: We study the influence of surfactants in three-phase contact lines of drops using direct numerical simulations. Surfactant-laden three-phase contact line is a vastly unexplored field where several coupled dynamics and rheology affects the motion of the drop. In our work, for the first time, we quantify and understand each dynamics in the context of cleaning, coating and vibrations.

Research interests: Fluid mechanics, interfacial science, computation

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: As a non-EU/UK student, President's scholarship is the best and reputed scheme. It enables several benefits like independent research and provides help with £2000 consummables each year. I am happy to attend several conferences and workshops due to this scheme.

Name: Diego Ruiz Sanchis

Department: Department of Bioengineering

Title of Research: Study of metabolic interdependencies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

for the engineering of synthetic microbial communities

Email:  d.ruiz21@imperial.ac.uk
Supervisor(s):  Dr. Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro

About me: I graduated from the Technical University of Madrid, where I studied Biotechnology and specialised in Computational Biology.

Summary of Research: We are trying to understand how yeasts behave when they live in community, how and why they trade metabolites, and how this shapes the population landscape. With this knowledge, we could rewrite the rules that govern their communities and use them for more efficient and sustainable bio-production.

Research interests: Synthetic biology, synthetic microbial communities, biotechnology, metabolic engineering

Name: Gonzalo Larrabure Moreyra

Department: Earth Science and Engineering

Title of Research: Multimodal assessment of the spatiotemporal heterogeneity in column leaching systems through 4D imaging and surface-level analysis 

Email: g.larrabure-moreyra22
Personal Web Page address:  https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/g.larrabure-moreyra22
Supervisor(s): Dr. Pablo Brito-Parada

About me: I studied Chemical Engineering at Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología - UTEC in Peru before choosing to continue my education at Imperial College London. During my time as an undergrad, I joined a research group in Minerals Processing, which helped me realise that I wanted to pursue a career in research. This fuelled my interest in pursuing a PhD, as I would like to some day inspire others in the same way that my supervisors have inspired me.

Summary of Research: My research focuses on developing a set of strategies based on 4D imaging (using micro computerised tomography) and surface-level analysis (using XPS) to obtain a more thorough understanding of copper column leaching processes. The purpose of the integration of these analysis techniques is to provide decision-making tools and information that could lead to the design of more economically and environmentally sustainable copper extraction processes.

Research interests: Hydrometallurgy, surface-level analysis, 3D imaging, thermodynamics, and reaction kinetics

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: I chose to apply for a President's PhD scholarship because I knew that it would help me achieve my potential and provide me the opportunity to study at Imperial College London.

Name: Aitana Cheesman

Department: Surgery and Cancer

Title of Research: Advancing treatment in high grade serous ovarian carcinoma through targeting of RNA splicing

Email:  a.cheesman22@ic.ac.uk
Supervisor(s):  Dr Iain McNeish, Dr Anke Nijhuis, Dr Hector Keun

About me: Prior to starting my PhD at Imperial, I completed a MSci Biochemistry programme at King's College London, where I developed an interest for cancer research. Between the end of my MSci and the start of my PhD programme, I worked as a Research Technician for a collaborative project between the Bart's Cancer Institute and UCB.

Summary of Research: High grade serous ovarian carcinoma is the leading cause of death from gynaecological cancers. Despite new treatment options, survival rates have not improved in the last 3 decades. Immunotherapy such as immune checkpoint inhibitors have gained much traction in the past decade with FDA approval for treatment of several solid tumours and blood cancers. Results from clinical trials with immune checkpoint inhibitors are disappointing. A recent study demonstrated that depletion of RNA splicing co-factor RBM39 through molecular glue indisulam, produces neo-epitopes that increase the response to immunotherapy treatment in mice. My research follows the hypothesis that co-treatment with RBM39 degraders like indisulam can potentiate the response to immunotherapies.

Research interests: Cancer biology, cancer immunology and immunotherapies.

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: The President's scholarship is a prestigious award, which offered me the possibility to complete a PhD in one of the lead research institutions in the world.

Name: Ellen Stadler

Department: Infectious Disease

Title of Research: Optimising antimicrobial therapy in urinary tract infections through real-time PK-PD monitoring and novel biosensor technologies

Email:  evs20@ic.ac.uk
Supervisor(s):  Dr Timothy Rawson, Dr Danny O'Hare, Dr Alison Holmes

About me: I'm originally from Switzerland, and I earned my BSc in health sciences and technology, followed by a MSc in biomedical engineering with a specialization in molecular bioengineering from ETH Zurich. During my undergraduate studies, I had the chance to spend a semester studying at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. My industry exposure includes an internship at Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson in Schaffhausen, and a placement at Sensirion in Stäfa. These experiences, along with my master's thesis at Imperial College, influenced my decision to pursue a PhD at Imperial College.

Summary of Research: My PhD is dedicated to addressing the pressing issue of antimicrobial resistance by optimizing the use of antimicrobial drugs through innovative biosensor technologies. With AMR contributing to 700,000 deaths annually, the misuse of antimicrobials remains a significant challenge. Maintaining drug concentrations above their minimum inhibitory concentration is crucial for effectiveness, but variations in patients' pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics make dosage selection challenging. To overcome this, therapeutic drug monitoring is employed, and the project aims to develop cost-effective and user-friendly point-of-care biosensors. These sensors will measure both drug levels and biomarkers indicating infection progression, potentially guiding real-time adjustments to dosage.

Research interests: Sensor development, health monitoring and dose optimization, infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance,

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College:  This prestigious scholarship not only provides the flexibility to choose a supervisor and research topic in line with my interests but also offers essential financial support for living in London. The prospect of being part of a diverse research community adds a valuable dimension to my academic journey, making it the perfect fit for the kind of experience I am seeking.

Name: Kelly McCain

Department: School of Public Health

Title of Research: Understanding the public health impact of different methods of implementation of current and new vaccines against P.falciparum malaria in sub-Saharan Africa 

Email: k.mccain22@imperial.ac.uk
Personal Web Page address:  https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/k.mccain22
Supervisor(s): Professor Azra Ghani, Dr Peter Winskill, Dr Lucy Okell, Dr Hillary Topazian

About me: I graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Human Biology, then completed a Masters of Science in Public Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. From there, I worked as an ORISE Fellow for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Geospatial Research, Analysis, and Services Program (GRASP) for a year prior to moving to London. At the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, I worked as a Data Scientist/Manager for a large multi-country mobile phone survey for mortality surveillance (RaMMPS).

Summary of Research: The first part of my doctoral research involves modelling various implementation strategies of two pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccines, RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M, to assess their population-level impact across a range of transmission and seasonality settings. I will also estimate the expected synergistic impact on the burden of malaria of a combined roll-out of the vaccines alongside seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) and use within-host modelling to understand potential mechanisms for this synergy.

Research interests: malaria; mathematical modelling; infectious diseases; spatial epidemiology

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: As an international student, this was one of the few options I had to pursue a PhD at Imperial. I am very grateful for the opportunity to study here in an incredible department and university.

Name: Shubha Talwar

Department: National Heart and Lung Institute

Title of Research: Investigating the role of autoantibodies in Long-COVID 

Email: st2320@ic.ac.uk
Supervisor(s): Dr Ryan Thwaites, Dr James Harker, Prof Peter Openshaw

About me: I received a BSc in Immunology and Infection from University College London, and just as I was about to graduate the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Greatly inspired by the pace of research in the field, I decided to pursue an MRes in Molecular and Cellular Biosciences at Imperial, after which I continued working as a research technician with Dr Ryan Thwaites and Prof Peter Openshaw on both SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses. I was awarded a President's Scholarship to pursue a PhD in the same lab, investigating the immune mechanisms of Long-COVID.

Summary of Research: Most of us recover quickly after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, however in a minority of individuals the symptoms can persist for a long period of time or seemingly never resolve - a condition now known as Long-COVID. My research aims to investigate the pathophysiological mechanisms behind this uncharacterised condition, particularly focusing on autoimmunity (or immune responses to the host's own proteins). Ultimately, I am interested in how a viral infection can dysregulate the immune system in some individuals and not others, and whether it can be harnessed for treatment of not only Long-COVID but other post-viral syndromes.

Research interests: Autoimmunity, B-cell regulation, viral infection and persistence.

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: The President's scholarship scheme is invaluable for international students like myself to undertake a PhD without financial barriers, especially in the field of biomedical sciences where the majority of programmes can be restricted to home/EU applicants. In addition to the funding, the scheme opens a range of doors for personal development and growth through the consumables fund which can be used for conferences and courses. Lastly, the scholar community is diverse and a great opportunity to network with like-minded people across disciplines at Imperial.

Name: Guangmeimei Yang

Department: Chemistry

Title of Research: Develop conductive and stable support for iridium oxide water oxidation catalysts in proton exchange membrane water electrolysers 

Email: m.yang20@imperial.ac.uk
Supervisor(s): Dr. Andreas Kafizas

About me: MRes in Nanomaterials, Imperial College; BSc in Chemistry, Beijing University of Chemical Technology

Summary of Research: My research is focused on electrochemical water oxidation with iridium oxide as the catalyst. Due to the scarcity of iridium, I am working on using iridium more efficiently and improving its activity and stability by introducing a catalyst support.

Research interests: Electrochemistry; materials science, green hydrogen production

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: I really enjoy doing research in the collaborative atmosphere at Imperial College.

Name: Hikaru Ishikura

Department: Chemistry

Title of Research: Accessing New Strained Ring Motifs as Design Elements for Medicinal Chemistry

Email:  h.ishikura21@imperial.ac.uk
Personal Web Page address:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/h-ishikura/
Supervisor(s):  Dr James A. Bull

About me: I completed my undergraduate studies at the Maastricht Science Programme in the Netherlands, where I graduated summa cum laude. During this time, I was also part of the Honours Research Programme and conducted interdisciplinary research in the Department of Sensor Engineering at Maastricht University. I then came to Imperial to pursue an MRes in Advanced Molecular Synthesis, gaining further perspective on the impact of chemical engineering and data science on synthetic chemistry. My dissertation focused on the synthesis and evaluation of oxetane isosteres and drug analogues, and I was awarded the Outstanding Overall Performance Prize for the 2021–2022 cohort.

Summary of Research: Small strained rings are a promising class of motifs due to their ability to modulate pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. However, their uptake in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery processes has been limited by a lack of synthetic availability. My research focuses on the development of new methodologies to access these emergent motifs as (bio)isosteres and interesting design elements for medicinal chemistry.

Research interests: Synthetic organic chemistry, synthetic methodology development, heterocycles

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: I already knew I wanted to continue on to PhD studies before starting my MRes degree, however, I was unsure where. I was thoroughly impressed by the research facilities available at Imperial, especially for chemistry in the White City campus, and decided I wanted to stay here. This scholarship scheme was one of the limited funding options available to me as an international student and has allowed me to freely pursue my research interests. Furthermore, through this scheme, I have been fortunate to meet exceptional researchers across a diverse range of subjects.

Name: Jhonn Canon Gomez
Department: Department of Chemistry
Title of research: Sustainable palladium catalysts for hydrogenation
Email: j.canon-gomez22@imperial.ac.uk
Supervisor(s): James Wilton-Ely

About me: I completed my undergraduate and master's degree at Universidad Nacional de Colombia – Bogotá, where I specialized in heterogeneous catalysis and materials science. During that time, I was able to participate in different research projects, leading an investigation aimed at improving air quality in Colombia by reducing polluting emissions from mobile sources.

Summary of research: Palladium is one of the noble metals with the highest industrial demand globally, being a fundamental component in catalytic converters and one of the most widely used catalysts in fine chemical synthesis. However, accessibility to this crucial element has been threatened by its low natural abundance and the harmful extraction conditions from the ores. A promising alternative to the current imbalance between palladium supply and demand is the recovery of this metal from palladium-rich secondary sources such as used catalytic converters. My research project focuses on the catalytic potential of a palladium compound extracted from scrap catalytic converters under mild conditions. The recovered Pd product is being used as a catalyst in the selective reduction of nitroarenes, in particular the 4'-chloro-2-nitrobiphenyl as part of the synthesis of the industrial agrochemical, Boscalid.

Research interests: Heterogeneous catalysis, Materials Science, Organic synthesis.

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: This scholarship scheme has allowed me to expand my academic and personal horizons within a sustainable and highly diverse context.

Name: Kevin Michalewicz

Department: Mathematics

Title of Research: Machine Learning for antibody design 

Email: k.michalewicz22@imperial.ac.uk
Personal Web Page address:  https://kevinmichalewicz.com/
Supervisor(s): Dr Barbara Bravi, Professor Mauricio Barahona

About me: I am originally from Argentina, where I pursued my degree in Electronic Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Buenos Aires (FIUBA). Later on, I was honored to be awarded the Eiffel Excellence Scholarship, which allowed me to continue my studies in France. There, I completed my second engineering degree at IMT Atlantique and also an MSc in signal processing from the Université de Rennes I.    During my time as a student, I had the opportunity to teach two physics courses: Electricity and Magnetism for a period of two years and Quantum Mechanics for six months. Additionally, I gained valuable practical experience through internships in the field of astrophysics, specifically focusing on optimisation methods and Machine Learning. They took place at the CEA Paris-Saclay in 2021 and at EPFL in 2022.

Summary of Research: Antibodies are proteins that play a major role in the body’s immune response by binding to harmful foreign agents. Ideally, a particular antibody binds strongly to a specific antigen (high affinity) while avoiding unrelated ones (high specificity). The process of affinity maturation consists of sequence mutations and a selection phase that leads to matured antibodies specialised for a particular target. Despite the increasing amount of structural data on target-specific antibodies, it remains unclear what biophysical properties contribute to binding specificity and if changes in these properties accompany affinity maturation.

With Machine Learning and statistical approaches, in my PhD research I am thoroughly exploring the process of affinity maturation. This will allow me to predict the binding affinities of antibodies to targets of medical interest, including amyloid-β (related to Alzheimer's disease), influenza, HIV and SARS-CoV-2. In addition, I aim to design antibodies by strategically modifying a few amino acids, improving specificity while ensuring stability during manufacturing or maturation.

Research interests: Machine Learning, antibody design, signal processing and optimisation.

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: The generous stipend provided by the President's Scholarship is what allows me to live in London without financial worries and grants me the privilege of engaging in research within a prestigious academic setting. Specifically, I was able to define and customise my project and was provided with the necessary resources to propel it forward.

Name: Tijmen de Lorm

Department: Life Sciences

Title of Research: Reconciling oil palm production and biodiversity conservation: How does farming strategy affect the yield and biodiversity of oil palm plantations? 

Email: tad20@ic.ac.uk
Personal Web Page address:  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tijmen-De-Lorm

Supervisor(s): Prof. R.M. Ewers

About me: I obtained a BSc in Biology from the University of Amsterdam, with brief periods of study at the National University of Singapore and Wageningen University and Research. After that, I pursued an MRes Tropical Forest Ecology at Imperial College.

Summary of Research: My research examines how different palm oil production strategies affect the biodiversity and yield of plantations. I plan to sample oil palm plantations ranging in their production intensity, to assess how that affects these variables. Ultimately, this will help us understand how palm oil can be produced sustainably.

Research interests: Biodiversity conservation, argoecology

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: The Presidents PhD Scholarships gives me full academic freedom and provides a generous stipend.

Name: Costanza Tomaselli

Department: Economics and Public Policy

Title of Research: Essays on environmental economics (TBC)

Email:  c.tomaselli21@imperial.ac.uk
Personal Web Page address:  https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/c.tomaselli21
Supervisor(s):  Dr. Mirabelle Muuls

About me: Costanza holds a MRes with Distinction from Imperial College Business School, a MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science in Political Economy and a BSc from Bocconi university in Economics (BIEMF). Prior to joining Imperial Business School Costanza was a UK civil service economist, having worked for a variety of departments including the UK Finance ministry (HM Treasury).

Summary of Research: My research focuses on climate change shocks and their impact on the economy with a focus on innovation, market concentration (industrial organisation) unstructured data and machine learning applications.

Research interests: Environmental economics, climate finance, industrial organisation, corporate finance

Why did you choose the scholarship scheme at Imperial College: The scholarship has helped me to dedicate fully to my research as I want to work in academia, furthermore the scholarship will enable me to be part of a group of like-minded early career researchers.