Postdoc

Sonia Khemaissa


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Sonia is a postdoc working on liquid-liquid phase separation properties of some proteins. This particular property leads to the formation of membraneless organelles inside cells, with functions that are not yet fully understood. The aim of her research project is to decipher the function of these liquid droplets as catalysts for chemical reactions. Moreover, she is interested in studying how these proteins could or not interact with each other.
Sonia completed her PhD in 2023 under the supervision of Dr. Sandrine Sagan and Dr. Astrid Walrant at the Laboratoire des Biomolécules at Sorbonne Université in Paris, where she focused on understanding the mechanisms of membrane interaction and cellular uptake of cell penetrating peptides. She also obtained the French aggregation in physics and chemistry in 2019. She likes to spend her free time walking, reading, or meditating.

Virginia Casablancas Antras

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Virginia is a doctoral student with the Systems Approaches to Biomedical Science CDT, and is jointly supervised by collaborators at EliLilly. The main aim of her research is understanding the mechanisms of amyloid protein aggregation and inhibition using NMR and chemical kinetics approaches. She has also recently started working on the partitioning of small molecules into membraneless organelles. She is generally interested in studying biologically relevant phenomena at the protein interaction level, and in the combination of modelling and experimental approaches.  
Virginia’s background is in Biomedical Sciences (UAB, Spain, 2014) and she later completed an MRes in Molecular Biophysics at King’s College London, funded by a LaCaixa Fellowship for Postgraduate Studies in Europe. During her masters thesis in Prof. James McDonnell’s lab, she focused on the structural asymmetry and allostery of the immunoglobulin E constant region. After finishing her Dphil in group she is now working as a postdoc on the project about membraneless organelles.
Outside the lab, Virginia plays the cello in the Oxford Millenium Orchestra, as well as being part of the Oxford University Table Tennis Team.