Laura Cooper

Computing and Image Analysis, Warwick Medical School

I provide support for image analysis, data storage and automation. Previously, I have worked at the Warwick Mathematics Institute, studying numerical modelling of viscoelastic flows, and at the University of Southampton, using mathematical and image based modelling to investigate fluid flow in soil. I completed my PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Southampton where I studied fluid flow in the lymphatic system using image based and computational modelling. I have an MMath degree from the University of East Anglia.

David Corcoran

Lattice lightsheet specialist, Warwick Medical School

I run our Wellcome funded lattice light sheet facility within the Centre for Mechanochemical Cell Biology. This includes support for: experimental design, image acquisition, user training, maintenance, image analysis, and data sharing.

Previously, I did research in molecular and cellular biology in my PhD at Imperial College London and two post-doc positions in Florida, USA. This included a variety of light microscopy techniques across various types of samples (cells, mice, flies, fixed, live, cleared, expanded, etc). Before this, I did my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of Bath.

Imaging Specialist, Warwick Medical School

As an Imaging specialist, I help with all general light microscopy needs within WMS including our quantitative phase imaging microscope. I provide user training, help with image acquisition, experimental design, and sample preparation advice. Throughout my scientific career, I have practical expertise in confocal and widefield microscopy on a variety of samples from plants to 3D mouse livers.

After my PhD in Molecular Biology studying chromatin genomics in Arabidopsis thaliana at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, I moved to the University of Birmingham studying DNA replication in mouse embryonic stem cells and fibroblasts. In my next postdoctoral position, I reprogrammed skin fibroblasts from children suffering from liver diseases into induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. I then joined Prof. Paul Gissen at the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health at the University College of London, where I worked on iPSCs-derived hepatocytes. We finally generated a humanized in vitro whole-organ bioreactor grown artificial liver model and used it to test lentiviral gene therapy for liver patients.

Darius Koester

CAMDU Director, Warwick Medical School

As an experimental physicist, Darius Koester worked mainly on questions concerning cell surface mechanics. After studying Physics at University of Leipzig, he joined 2007 the groups of Patricia Bassereau (Physics) and Christophe Lamaze (Biology) at Institut Curie (Paris) for a PhD supervised by Pierre Nassoy. He employed optical tweezers to measure cell membrane tension in combination with micro-mechanical, biochemical, and genetic manipulations to decipher the role of Caveolae, cell membrane invaginations, as a buffer for cell membrane tension, protecting the cell plasma membrane from rupture.

This was followed in 2011 by a postdoc with Satyajit (Jitu) Mayor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (Bangalore). Here, he designed and did set up a minimal system of acto-myosin networks connected to supported lipid bilayers to study the effect of the active, remodelling actin network on the dynamics and clustering of membrane proteins. He could show that this minimal system constitutes an active composite system displaying increased membrane molecule clustering and dynamics, which corroborated a novel theoretical model developed by Madan Rao to understand protein clustering in the cell plasma membrane.

In 2017, he moved to Warwick University to work with Mohan Balasubramanian on the reconstitution of the cytokinetic ring machinery and, in 2018, was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Mechanochemical Cell Biology. His group develops methods to study active membrane systems in 2D and 3D combined with mechanical manipulation and aims to expand to more complex lipid and membrane proteins mixtures to understand the role of cortex-membrane interactions in membrane tension and mechano-signalling.

Darius is a light microscopy enthusiast with a focus on TIRF microscopy.

Tim Foster

Research Fellow in Computing/Image Analysis, Warwick Medical School

I am a Research Fellow providing cover for Laura. I handle CAMDU's servers and data storage and providing teaching and support in image analysis and programming. I come from a Biosciences background, having done a BSc in Biology at the University of Bath, followed by a PhD in Computational Biology at the University of Birmingham, under the supervision of Dr. Jan-Ulrich Kreft. The focus of my PhD project was on developing and validating a computational model of the gut microbiome.

Claire Mitchell

Microscopy specialist, Warwick Medical School

As microscopy specialist for WMS, my role entails helping out with all general light microscopy needs within the School. Before coming to Warwick, I worked as a multiphoton microscopy specialist at King's College London. Prior to this, I completed post-doctoral positions at the University of Leicester and Imperial College building advanced multiphoton microscopes. I completed my PhD in Biophotonics at the University of St. Andrews in 2015 where I was working on optical manipulation and imaging of plant and mammalian cells, specialising in ultrafast photonics. My undergraduate study was undertaken at the University of Leeds, where I graduated with an MPhys in Physics with Astrophysics.

Helena Coker

Lattice lightsheet specialist, Warwick Medical School

I’m an Imaging Specialist working with the Lattice Light Sheet microscope in the Mechanochemical Cell Biology building. Day to day I manage the microscope, this involves alignment and facilitating use by other researchers. Prior to this I completed my PhD in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Oxford. My focus was single molecule techniques for studying diffusion in artificial lipid bilayers, specifically interferometric scattering (iSCAT) and TIRF microscopies. I completed my undergraduate MSci. in Natural Sciences at the University of Bath.

Erick Martins Ratamero

Research Fellow in Computational Image Analysis, Division of Biomedical Sciences

I was a Research Fellow in the Division of Biomedical Sciences providing support to multiple groups on image analysis, storage and automation. Prior to that, I have worked as a Research Associate with Prof. Rudolf Roemer in the Department of Physics on a short, 5-month project simulating and visualising protein flexibility right after finishing a Ph.D in the Department of Physics at Warwick, working with Prof. Matthew Turner on the theoretical biophysics of bacterial division. In the past, I have obtained a double M.Sc. degree in Complex Systems Sciences from the École Polytechnique (France) and Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) and B.Sc. in Telecommunications from Universidade Federal Fluminense (Brazil).