Professor Luminita Paraoan
Group leader Ocular Molecular biology and Mechanisms of Disease
Graduated from University of Bucharest (Biochemistry) in 1990; PhD in Genetics and Microbiology from The Romanian Academy of Sciences in 1996 and a further PhD in Biochemistry from The University of Liverpool in 1998.
Fulbright research Scholar at The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, 1992-1993 Wellcome Trust Prize studentship in The Department of Biochemistry, University of Liverpool, UK.
Wellcome Trust Prize Fellow at The University of Liverpool, UK, 1998-2000.
Appointed Lecturer in 2003 in the Department of Medicine, Senior Lecturer in 2006 in the School of Clinical Science, Faculty of Medicine and Reader in the Department of Eye and Vision Science, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Liverpool.
In 2016 Luminita was awarded a Personal Chair/Professor of Ocular Molecular and Cellular Biology in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Liverpool.
Since 2022 Luminita is Professor of Molecular Cell Biology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Edge Hill University.
Dr Daniel Grimes
Postdoctoral Researcher (PhD, Keele University, 2020; Mechanistic roles of proteins, fatty acids and their receptors and their effects on inflammatory signalling pathways in models of Diabetes Mellitus).
Current research interests and project: Apoptosis interactome and interacting signalling pathways in cancer cells.
Dr Ioan Valentin Matei
Postdoctoral Researcher (M.D. from Carol Davila University of Medicine, Bucharest, 2011; Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from the Nippon Dental University, Tokyo, as a Japanese Gov’t MEXT Scholar, 2017). Ioan’s doctoral research focused on glucotoxicity mitigation in a stem cell-derived endocrine pancreatic model. During his postdoctoral years, he has worked on liver-to-pancreas cell transdifferentiation and, subsequently, synergistic pro-longevity interventions in C.elegans.
Current research interests and project: modelling the effects of ageing in retinal pigmented epithelium with regards to mitochondrial health, dynamics, function and communication with other cellular compartments, to elucidate the role these processes play in the development of age-related macular degeneration.
Jake Hodgkinson
MRes student
Characterisation of p73-mediated cell signalling involved in apoptosis modulation of cancer cells. Novel in vitro cell-based models of disease.
Ms Tanachapa Jantalika
Tanachapa graduated in 2022 in Stem Cell and Molecular Biology from the Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Thailand.
Research interests: biological function and molecular mechanism of mesenchymal stem cells interaction with cancer cells, with particular emphasis on cell proliferation, apoptosis, cellular signalling, and cancer development.
Ms Gunticha Suwanmanee
Gunticha is a Gold Jubilee Scholar studying the effects of fucoxanthin on cell survival, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) under oxidative stress conditions.
Kaiyue Teng
University of Liverpool
PhD student