People

Miguel Angel is a post-doctoral researcher interested in cell competition and human developmental biology. He completed his Ph.D. at Rice University, studying WNT and NODAL signaling dynamics for cell fate decisions in micropatterned pluripotent stem cell colonies. Outside of the lab, he enjoys cinema, coffee, photography and running.

Anfu is a Ph.D. student studying the mechanism of primordial germ cell specification in mouse embryos. He completed his MPhil in Developmental Biology at the University of Cambridge, where he used chicken embryo to characterise the role of mechanical forces in regulating morphogenesis and embryonic development. Outside the lab, he likes playing music, drawing, and playing games. 

Luca is a Ph.D. student studying aneuploidies in human embryos. He completed his MSci in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, where he used mouse embryonic stem cell models to characterise a chromatin remodelling mutation linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. When not doing science, Luca loves baking bread, making music, and having a good game night.

Rina is a Ph.D. student interested in stem cell models, genetic circuits, and understanding the earliest cell fate decisions of the developing human embryo. Before joining the Shahbazi lab, she completed her Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia where she developed synthetic biology tools to study heterogeneity within stem cell populations. Besides research, she likes climbing mountains.

Viviane completed her PhD in 2019 in Cell Biology at University of Campinas – Brazil with an internship at the University of Cambridge. She used embryonic stem cells models to understand the early stages of mouse and human development. Viviane joined Marta Shahbazi’s group to study early human development. Aside from her passion for science, she loves traveling and cooking.

Nanami is a postdoctoral researcher interested in cellular communication in developmental biology, working on lumenal signals in cell fate determination. She received her PhD in cell biology from Hokkaido University in Japan, where she studied cell competition upon inflammation. When she is not in the lab, she enjoys exploring Cambridge by bike or walking.