Lab Members
We welcome enquiries from motivated and enthusiastic scientists who would like to join our group. Expression of interest should be directed to Dr Cynthia Andoniadou.
Cynthia Lilian Andoniadou
Principal Investigator
Valeriia Davydenko
Research Technician
Cynthia joined KCL in September 2013 as a Lecturer and is currently a Reader in Stem Cell Biology. She has a joint research team between Technische Universität Dresden and KCL.
Cynthia carried out her PhD at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill, under the supervision of Dr Robin Lovell-Badge. Her post-doctoral research in the lab of Dr Juan Pedro Martinez-Barbera at the UCL Institute of Child Health focused on anterior forebrain and pituitary development in mouse. She teaches developmental biology and molecular endocrinology.
E-mail: cynthia.andoniadou@kcl.ac.uk
Valery recently joined our lab as our research technician. She is studying towards a degree in Zoology from the University of Kyiv and was previously a research technician at the iMM in Lisbon.
E-mail: valeriia.davydenko@kcl.ac.uk
Emily Lodge
Post-doctoral Research Associate
Yasmine Kemkem
Post-doctoral Research Associate
Emily completed her PhD in our lab, focusing on the role of the Hippo pathway in pituitary stem cell regulation, funded by the King's Biosciences Programme Four Year Prize PhD Studentship. Emily then joined UCL as a post-doctoral researcher working on the pathogenesis of pituitary tumours, before returning to focus on YAP/TAZ signalling during pituitary disease.
E-mail: emily.lodge@kcl.ac.uk
Yasmine is a postdoctoral research associate funded by the Paradifference Foundation. She carried out her PhD in Montpellier on a competitive MESRI national scholarship, and joined our group in October 2021. Yasmine is interested in adrenal medulla stem cells and their role in tumour formation.
E-mail: yasmine.kemkem@kcl.ac.uk
Olivia Sherwin
PhD Student
Olivia joined our group in February 2023 as a PhD student on the joint degree between KCL and Technische Universität Dresden. Before joining the lab, Olivia completed an MSci in Biochemistry at the University of Bristol. Olivia is working on the impact of the stress axis on pituitary stem cell regulation.
E-mail: olivia.sherwin@kcl.ac.uk
Thea Willis
PhD Student
Thea is a PhD student on the Wellcome Trust ‘Cell Therapies & Regenerative Medicine’ PhD Programme and joined our group in October 2019. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Bath and her MRes at King's as part of the four year PhD programme. Thea is interested in stem cell heterogeneity and the control of stem cell behaviour during homeostasis.
E-mail: thea.willis@kcl.ac.uk
Miriam Vazquez Segoviano
PhD Student
Miriam is a rotation student on the Wellcome Trust ‘Advanced Therapies for Regenerative Medicine’ PhD Programme. Her project focuses on the characterisation of the role of novel stem cell factors in pituitary stem cells.
E-mail: miriam.vazquez-segoviano@kcl.ac.uk
James Kaufman-Cook
PhD Student
James is a rotation student on the MRC Doctoral Training Partnership in Biomedical Sciences. His project focuses on the generation of animal models of pituitary tumours.
E-mail: james.kaufman-cook@kcl.ac.uk
Dylan Cameron
PhD Student
Dylan in an MRC DTP iCASE student with STEM CELL Technologies, and is joint between Prof. Karen Liu's lab and our lab. Dylan's research is on iPSC-derived models of trunk neural crest cancers.
E-mail: dylan.cameron@kcl.ac.uk
Robert Dinu
BSc Student
Robert is studying towards a BSc in Biosciences at KCL. He is our part-time Undergraduate Research Assistant and is currently undertaking his BSc project in our lab, working on adrenal medulla stem cells.
E-mail: robert.dinu@kcl.ac.uk
Shalini Singh
Extramural Year Student
Shalini is a BSc student at KCL. She initially joined our lab as a Lister Summer Student and is an extramural year student. Her project focuses on the characterisation of novel stem cell factors in pituitary stem cells.
E-mail: shalini.singh@kcl.ac.uk
Olivia Ward
Visiting BSc Student
Olivia is studying towards a BSc in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toledo and is carrying out her placement in our lab. She has not decided her future research direction, but we hope to sway her to remain in the endocrine stem cells field!
E-mail: olivia.1.ward@kcl.ac.uk
Affiliated Lab Members
Evi Xekouki
Clinical Endocrinologist
Evi is a Visiting Lecturer in our lab. She is Assistant Professor in Endocrinology at the University of Crete School of Medicine and Head of the Endocrine, Diabetes & Metabolism Clinic. Evi is interested in the genetics of pituitary tumours, focusing on new candidate pathways for chemical treatments.
E-mail: evi.xekouki@kcl.ac.uk
