Lab Members

Prof. Katja Röper, PhD
Group Leader
BlueSky: @katjaroeper.bsky.social

Article in JCB ‘People&Ideas’: http://jcb.rupress.org/content/215/2/140?etoc

Current Lab Members

Peter Parker

Zoology Part II student 2025/26

Peter wants to understand the organisation and role of microtubules and their interaction with the actomyosin cytoskeleton across the tube formation process of the salivary glands in the Drosophila embryo

Leo Huang

MPhil student since October 2025

Leo wants to understand the transcriptional blueprint that drives the mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition in human renal organoids derived from iPSCs, focussing on identifying direct targets of the transcription factor PAX8

Markus Mukenhirn, PhD

postdoc since July 2025

Markus loves epithelial tissues and focusses on how the nephron epithelial tube can form a correctly shaped lumen, rather than an inflated cyst structure, a hallmark of renal disease. He focusses in particular on cell and tissue mechanics, channels, hydrostatic pressure, stiffness…

Madeleine Ball, PhD

postdoc since June 2025

Madeleine is our super-resolution microscopy expert and is applying her skills to understand how supracellular actomyosin cables are assembled and organised at the molecular level

Sudeepa Nandi, PhD

postdoc since July 2025

Sudeepa is fascinated by crosstalk that occurs between cytoskeletal systems, in particular how microtubules influence actomyosin dynamics during cell shape changes that drive morphogenesis of tubes

Robert Turnbull, PhD

postdoc since May 2025

Rob is our renal organoid expert and is figuring out the cell biology of how the mesenchymal precursor cells of the nephron successfully undergo a mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition to form a polarised tube

Past Lab members

Gabriella Symons
PhD student October 2020-May 2024, then 11-months postdoc in the lab

Now: Scientist at Plurify, Cambridge

Robert Turnbull, MPhil
PhD student October 2020- May 2024, then 11-months postdoc in the lab

Now: postdoc at Dept. of PDN, University of Cambridge

Arnaud Ambrosini, PhD
Postdoc July 2019 – February 2024

Now: Data analyst/Image analyst at Cambridge Stem Cell Institute

John-Poul Ng-Blichfeldt, PhD
Postdoc August 2018 – February 2024

Now: senior post at University of Cambridge

Annabel May, MPhil
PhD Student since July 2018- Dec 2022, then 11-months postdoc in the lab

now: Clinical scientist at NHS Birmingham

Ghislain Gillard, PhD
Postdoc since February 2017- February 2022

Now: CNRS researcher at IGH Montpellier, France

Dina Ashour, PhD
PhD Student from July 2016 – June 2021, postdoc until February 2022

Now: working for European Commission in Brussels

Jesse Peterson, PhD
Postdoc: May 2017 – June 2021

Now: Scientist at Lightcast Discovery

Yara E. Sánchez-Corrales, PhD
Postdoc: April 2014-May 2020

Now: Research Fellow
Genetics and Genomic Medicine Programme
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children
Twitter: @DrYaraSanchez

Clara Sidor, PhD
Postdoc: March 2013 – Feb 2018
Now: CNRS fellow at IBDM, Marseille

Gemma Girdler, PhD
Postdoc: April 2010 – March 2017
Now: Postdoc at CI Cambridge

Farhaan Khan
Summer Student: June – August 2016
Then: Medical student at Cambridge

Konradin Müskens
Part II student: Oct 2015 – April 2016
Then: postgrad Medicine studies in Utrecht, Netherlands

Silvia Aldaz, PhD
Postdoc: from end of 2013 until Summer 2015, previously Freeman lab
Now: in Nick Brown’s lab at Gurdon Institute, Cambridge

Alex Booth, PhD
PhD student: October 2008 -September 2012, Postdoc October 2012-August 2013
Then: Postdoc, University of Dundee

Jonathan Lawson
Rotation student : April – June 2011
Then: PhD student at Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge
Now: PR at CRUK head quarters in London

Tomoki Otani
Part II student: October 2010 – April 2011
Then: PhD student at Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge

Claire Mestdagh
Erasmus exchange student: April – July 2010
Then: PhD student at IMB, Mainz, Germany

Arjun Jain
MPhil student: October 2007 – August 2008
Then: PhD student at University of Cambridge

Rob Johnson
Summer student: 2007
Then: student at University of Durham

Mary Pines
PhD student: October 2005 -February 2009
Then: Postdoc at UBC, Canada

Vanessa Maybeck
Research Assistant: October 2005 – April 2008
Then: Postdoc at Forschungszentrum Juelich, Germany
Now: PI at FZ Juelich