Principal Investigator:



Teuta Pilizota (teuta.pilizota at ed.ac.uk) (CV)

Teuta obtained her undergraduate degree from the Department of Physics, University of Zagreb, and her PhD at the Department of Physics, University of Oxford (working with Richard Berry). She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Lewis-Sigler Institute, Princeton University (with Josh Shaevitz) before joining the School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh in 2013. In 2024 Teuta joined the Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, and is currently split between the two institutions.

Postdocs


Lucas Le Nagard (L.J.G.Le-Nagard at sms.ed.ac.uk)

Lucas finished his undergraduate studies at ESPCI Paris with a major in biological physics, his MSc in physics at McMaster University, and his PhD in biological physics at the University of Edinburgh, School of Physics and Astronomy working with Wilson Poon
. He is currently interested in bacterial swimming and energy maintenance in various starvation conditions.
Amritha Janardanan (Amritha.Janardanan at ed.ac.uk)

Amritha finished her undergraduate and master studies in electronics and microelectronics at IIT and PESIT in Bangalore and her PhD at the University of Manchester working on the physics of graphene. She is currently working on the electrical detection of the bacterial flagellar motor and for biosensing purposes
James Flewellen (James.Flewellen at ed.ac.uk)

James completed his PhD at the University of Oxford and took part in several exciting projects since. James is currently leading a project to explore the potential of our novel biosensor technology in a range of industries, including water supply, food and drink, medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring as part of the iCURE program delivered by SETsquared partnership.


Alex Scott (alexander.scott at ed.ac.uk)

Alex finished his undergraduate degree in physics and hi PhD in biological physics at the University of York. He is currently working on understanding the interplay between mucus physical properties and bacterial growth, with the final goal of understanding long-term sinus infections.

James Broughton(j.broughton at ed.ac.uk>)

James finished his undergraduate degree in microbiology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, followed by an MEng at Stellenbosch University, and finally a PhD in cell and molecular biology at the University of Edinburgh working on understanding E. coli’s response to antibiotic combinations using single-cell microfluidics. He is now working on the development of a novel biosensor.

Guillaume Terradot( at ed.ac.uk)

Guillaume obtained his Bachelor's in Life Sciences at Université Pierre et Marie Curie, his Master in Interdisciplinary Approaches to Life Science at Université Paris Diderot, and finally his PhD in our lab.. He is currently back with us working on the modeling of pH and electrochemical gradient regulation in E. coli.

PhD Students



Eric Chapman (co-supervised with Dr. Aidan Brown) (E.R.I.Chapman at sms.ed.ac.uk)

Eric did his undergraduate degree in Physics at Imperial College London, focussing on 2D infrared spectroscopy during his masters. He is now working on population dynamics of Bacteriophage-Bacteria interactions and working with OGI Bio to help further improve their bioreactors.

Nicolo Tormena (co-supervised with Prof. Kislon Voitchovsky) (nicolo.tormena at durham.ac.uk)

Nicolo is working on creating and characterizing bio-inspired active nano-membranes able to sense mechanical stress.

Urte Puodziunaite (urte.puodziunaite at ed.ac.uk)

Urte finished her undergraduate degree at the School of Biological Sciences and her Msc at the School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh. She is working on automatically imaging microbial shape during growth and understanding the relationship between the shape and microbial physiology.


Diana Coroiu (co-supervised with Dr. Michael Chen) (D.Coroiu at sms.ed.ac.uk)

Diana finished her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, developing a strong interest in interdisciplinary sciences. She is now working on using the bacterial flagellar motor to sense electrochemical gradients and thus understand various types of stresses bacteria encounter.

Keshav Todi (co-supervised with Prof. Peter Swain) (K.Todi at sms.ed.ac.uk)

Keshav finished his undergraduate studies in biotechnology at Delhi Technological University and is currently working on understanding bacterial electrophysiology in E. coli.

Uriel Barboza Perez

Uriel finished his undergraduate studies in engineering in biotechnology at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education and his Msc in Systems and Synthetic Biology at the University of Edinburgh. He is currently working on understanding bacterial electrophysiology in E. coli.


Evelin Kurdi (co-supervised with Prof. Chris French) (s1629119 at sms.ed.ac.uk)

Evelin finished her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, developing a strong interest in engineering biology. She is now working on developing novel whole-cell biosensors.

Master Students


Tommer Zilka

Tommer is an Msc by research student working on the energetics of dormant bacteria. He has completed his undergraduate degree at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh.

Lab Alumni

Postdocs:
Alex McVey, currently a co-founder and managing director with OGI Bio Edinburgh
Faris Sinjab, currently a scientist with Cambridge Consultants Cambridge
Wei-Chang Lo, currently a postdoc in Keng-hui Lin's lab at Academia Sinica
Ricardo Fradique, currently working in cyber security

PhD students:
Mark Zurbruegg, currently in Berlin pursuing a career in entrepreneurship
Tommy Schmidlechner, currently working with an IT company in the Netherlands
Jack Hocking, currently an R&D scientist at OGI Bio Edinburgh
Guillaume Terradot, currently back with us
Ekaterina Krasnopeeva, currently a posdoc in Calin Guet's lab at IST
Smitha Hegde,
Dario Miroli, currently at DSTL
Leonardo Mancini, currently a postdoc in Pietro Cicuta's lab at University of Cambridge
Keiran Stevenson, currently a postdoc in Minsu Kim's lab at Emory University
Eric Thorand, currently a scientist with BioClavis, Glasgow.
Jerko Rosko, currently working on pathogen detection with PicturaBio
.
Research Assistants:
Francesca Galdi, currently an R&D scientist at OGI Bio Ltd.

Undergraduate students:
Tommer Zilka, University of Edinburgh, Honours Student (Biochemistry)
Diana Coroiu, University of Edinburgh, Honours Student (Biochemistry)
JingJin Han, University of Edinburgh, School of Biological Sciences, Honours student (biotechnology)
Urte Puodziunaite, University of Edinburgh, Honours Student (Biochemistry)
Jill Howie, University of Glasgow, MEneg in Biomedical Engineering
Lisa Kahl, Honours student (Biotechnology)
Dale Wyllie (Co-supervised with Wilson Poon)
Anna Stikane, Honours Student (Biotechnology)
Charlotte Lilley, Honours Student (Biotechnology)
Ryoto Takeuchi, Honours Student (Biochemistry)
Kate Lord, Honours Student (Biotechnology)
Jack Twentyman, Honours Student (Biotechnology)
Rachel Mellon, summer project student
Chong Kean Chua, Honours Student (Biotechnology)
Adam Makepeace, Honours Student (Biotechnology)
Master students:
Craig McAuliffe, University of Edinburgh, School of Biological Sciences, Master student in Biotechnology
Uriel Baroboza Perez (University of Edinburgh, Master student in Synthetic and Systems Biology)
Yubing Shang (University of Edinburgh, Master student in Biotechnology)
James Freed (co-supervised with Prof. Susan Rosser, University of Edinburgh, Master with research)
Renata Buda, ERASMUS Master student (University of Zagreb)
Zhu Zian (University of Edinburgh, Master student in Biotechnology)
Joe Bradley (School of Physics and Astronomy, co-supervised with Prof. Wilson Poon)
Kathrine Murie (School of Physics and Astronomy, co-supervised with Dr. Richard Blythe and Dr. Naomi Nakayama)
Ralph Pompeus (School of Physics and Astronomy)
Visiting students:
Marijana Krivic (University of Zagreb, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computing)
Juan Carlos Arias Castro (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia; at the time PhD student in the lab of Juan Manuel Pedraza)
Liu Yunxiao (Peking University, in colaboration with Bai Fan)
Yang Jin (Peking University, in colaboration with Bai Fan)
Dejan Kunovac (University of Zagreb, in colaboration with Matko Gluncic)

Our past and present collaborators

Meriem El Karoui, Univeristy of Edinburgh, UK
Fan Bai, Peking University, China
Chien-Jung Lo, National Central University, Taiwan
Wilson Poon, Univeristy of Edinburgh, UK
Rosalind Allen, University of Edinburgh, UK
Marc Erhardt, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Germany
Naomi Nakayama, University of Edinburgh, UK
Pao-Yang Chen, Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Peter Swain, University of Edinburgh, UK
Burak Okumus (Paulsson Lab), Harvard University, USA
Matko Gluncic, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Filippo Menolascina, University of Edinburgh, UK
Peter Lund, University of Birmingham, UK
Malcolm Walkinshaw, University of Edinburgh, UK
Munehiro Asally, University of Warwick, UK
Tobias Bollenbach, University of Koln, Germany
Ya-Tang Yang, National Tsing Hua Univerisity, Taiwan
Tanniemola Liverpool, University of Bristol, UK
Andela Saric, University College London, UK
Morgan Beeby, Imperial College London, UK
Susan Rosser, University of Edinburgh, UK
Michael Chen, University of Edinburgh, UK
Michel Maharbiz, University of California Berkeley, USA
Ariel Amir, Harvard University, USA
Orkun Soyer, University of Warwick, UK

Theses coming out of the Pilizota lab

Jerko Rosko, Osmotaxis in Escherichia coli
Ekaterina Krasnopeeva, Single cell measurements of bacterial physiology traits during exposure to an external stress
Eric Thorand, Mechanical investigation of single plant cells using microfluidics
Keiran Stevenson, Physiology of Escherichia coli at high osmolarity and its use in industrial ethanol production
Dario Miroli, Cell size regulation of Escherichia coli at high osmolarity
Smitha Hegde, Escherichia coli's response to hyposmotic shocks
Leonardo Mancini, Measuring energy levels in bacterial dormancy
Guillaume Terradot, Electrophysiological functions of microbes
Jack Hocking, Single-cell study of the biophysics of bacteriophage infection
Tommy Schmidlechner, Optogenetic manipulation of cellular energetics in Escherichia coli
Mark Zurbruegg, Understanding and utilising bacterial growth rate changes at high external osmolarities

Open Positions

We are currently looking for a talented PhD student with a background in physics, applied mathematics or engineering to join us at the Department of Physics, University of Cambridge. If your background is biology or chemistry and you are interested in interdisciplinary research please get in touch as well. For more details and on how to apply see here. Please note that the application deadline given on the webpage, 16th May 2025, is only relevant if you plan to secure funding elsewhere. Please apply before 3rd December 2024 to be considered for studentships. Please get in touch with Teuta directly to discuss the project.


We are currently looking for two postdoctoral researchers to join us at the Department of Physics, University of Cambridge. Please see here and here for further details. If you wish to apply for an internal or external fellowship to join the lab, please email Teuta directly.


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