Group Members
Anna Wingate (2010-present)
Mrs. Anna Wingate is the Laboratory Manager at the Attard Lab.
She completed her MSc in Medical Molecular Biology at Westminster University and holds an additional MSc in Microbiology from the University of Gdansk
Karolina Nowakowska (2011-present)
Dr. Karolina Nowakowska is a Senior Research Associate and serves as the Project Manager for the PEACE study in the Attard Lab, where her work primarily involves wet lab research. She is also establishing a single-nucleus whole genome sequencing methodology, which will enable tracking of rare cell populations within cancer tissue. This approach aims to address fundamental questions about treatment resistance in prostate cancer patients.
She earned her PhD in 2018 from the Institute of Cancer Research, London.
Anuradha Jayaram (2016-present)
Dr. Anuradha Jayaram is a Postdoctoral Clinical Research Fellow whose work focuses on liquid biopsies to define the evolutionary complexities underlying drug resistance and to molecularly characterise prostate cancer.
She was awarded funding through Prostate Cancer UK to run the PARADIGM clinical trial that aims to investigate the utility of plasma biomarkers for predicting clinical outcomes in advanced prostate cancer.
She completed her Medical Degree at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, in 2006.
A M Mahedi Hasan (2017-present)
Dr. A M Mahedi Hasan is a Senior Computational Research Fellow and Computational Biologist focused on interpreting genomic and transcriptomic data from plasma samples and tumors, complemented by carefully annotated clinical follow-up data.
He obtained his PhD in 2015 from the University of Edinburgh, where he also completed a postdoctoral position from 2015 to 2018. Additionally, he earned his Associate Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy
Suparna Thakali (2019-present)
Miss Suparna Thakali is a Senior Research Technician who is primarily responsible for driving and completing genomic analyses of plasma DNA from patients enrolled in clinical trials. She manages sample analysis for projects such as TRAP and PARADIGM. She also provides technical assistance for clinical trial sample processing and contributes towards biobank repository maintenance for blood products and tissues in accordance with GCLP standards.
She obtained her BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry in 2016 from the University of Kent. She previously worked in a diagnostic microbiology laboratory from 2017 to 2019 and briefly for a nutritional research study in 2019.
Miriam Goncalves (2019-present)
Mrs. Goncalves is a Research Technician whose current role involves supporting the ReIMAGINE and PARADIGM clinical trials through sample collection and processing in accordance with GCLP standards and regulations.
She obtained her BSc (Hons) in 2008 in Brazil.
Charles Parker (2020-present)
Dr Charles Parker is a Clinical Research Training Fellow working on digital analysis of histological features to improve the prognostic information yield from patient biopsies, and the interrogation of treatment resistance using spatial transcriptomics. This work is jointly funded by the Jean Shanks Foundation and the Pathological Society of Great Britain & Ireland.
Charles obtained his medical degree in 2013 from the University of Cambridge with an intercalated MA (Hons) in Clinical Pathology. He undertook histopathology training in Edinburgh, and was the 2021 UCLH Levi Fellow in Uropathology.
Stefano Lise (2020-present)
Dr. Stefano Lise is a Principal Research Fellow in Computational Biology, leading the bioinfomatics team at the Attard Lab and focusing on studying methylation signature in plasma DNA.
He obtained his PhD in 1998 from the University of Trieste, Italy, and earned his MRes from UCL in 2003. Dr. Lise has previously held positions at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), the University of Oxford, UCL, and Imperial College London.
Gianmarco Leone (2020-present)
Dr. Gianmarco Leone is a Clinical Research Training Fellow working on various projects focused on the development of liquid biopsy in prostate cancer.
He completed his Medical Degree in 2015 at the University of Catania and his Medical Oncology training in 2021 at the University of Turin, Italy. He started his Medical Research Council-funded PhD in December 2022.
Sylvie Chan (2023-present)
Dr. Sylvie Chan is a Clinical Research Fellow investigating the genomics of lethal prostate cancer by leveraging samples from the PEACE study. She is also involved in clinical trial development for novel PSMA-directed radioligands.
Dr. Chan earned her Medical Degree from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in 2015 and completed her Medical Oncology specialty training in 2024. Additionally, she holds a Clinical Diploma in Palliative Care medicine.
Daniel Wetterskog (2014-present)
Dr. Daniel Wetterskog is a Senior Research Fellow at the Attard Lab, where he is responsible for project supervision and the development of methods for interrogating clinical samples, with a focus on cell-free DNA found in liquid biopsies.
He completed his PhD in 2008 at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and has held prior postdoctoral positions at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and the UCL Cancer Institute.
Emily Grist (2015-present)
Dr. Emily Grist is a Postdoctoral Clinical Research Fellow at the Attard Lab. She played a key role in establishing the STAMPEDE 2 clinical trial, which opened in 2024 and will investigate new treatment strategies for patients with metastatic prostate cancer.
Dr. Grist completed her medical degree in 2009 at the University of Southampton and specialized in Medical Oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital. She received the prestigious Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award to fund her PhD at the Attard Lab, which she completed in 2022.
Dr. Grist has a keen interest in patient and public engagement, having spoken at both the Pint of Science Festival and a British Science Association event.
Paolo Cremaschi (2016-present)
Dr. Paolo Cremaschi is a Senior Research Fellow working on RNA-seq and methylation data from several prostate cancer clinical trials conducted at UCL/UCLH.
He completed his Master's degree in 1996 and worked as an IT consultant for 15 years before obtaining his PhD in 2015 from the Italian National Research Council in Pavia. In 2021, he moved to the Human Technopole in Milan, where he worked on CRISPR screening projects. In 2023, he returned to the Attard Lab.
Mazlina Ismail (2018-present)
Dr. Mazlina Ismail is a Computational Research Fellow currently working on several transcriptomics-based projects, including ARNEO and STAMPEDE, with the goal of understanding the mechanisms of treatment resistance in men with prostate cancer.
She obtained her PhD from University College London in 2018.
Sharan Lall (2019-present)
Miss Sharan Lall is a Senior Research Technician and the Histopathology Manager for the STAMPEDE2 clinical trial. In addition to her management role, she plays a crucial part in processing samples for STAMPEDE and supports multiple other projects in the lab, including TRAILS and PEACE.
She obtained her BSc from the University of Coventry in 2009.
Osvaldas Vainauskas (2020-present)
Osvaldas Vainauskas is a Computational Research Fellow at the Attard Lab, specialising in integrating multimodal data to study the spatio-temporal dynamics of prostate cancer.
He earned his Biology degree in 2017 from the University of Alicante, Spain. After a year in industry, he completed a Masters in Bioinformatics in 2019 at the University of Murcia, Spain, before beginning his PhD in Bioinformatics at UCL in 2020 through a CRUK scholarship. His research bridges computational biology and cancer evolution to provide insights into disease progression.
Stefanie Friedrich (2020-present)
Dr. Stefanie Friedrich is a Computational Research Fellow focused on identifying patterns and establishing benchmarks related to cancer treatment resistance using spatial transcriptomics.
She obtained her PhD in 2020 from the University of Stockholm, Sweden.
Ariadna Camacho (2022-present)
Ariadna Camacho is a Research Assistant responsible for managing the wet lab component of the ReIMAGINE project and assisting with its analysis.
She obtained her BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science from Middlesex University in 2020 and subsequently worked at a leading precision oncology company specializing in next-generation sequencing (NGS) from 2020 to 2022.
Sarah Howlett (2024-present)
Dr. Sarah Howlett is a Clinical Research Fellow working on the STAMPEDE2 clinical trial. Her research interests focus on biomarkers and genomics in the study of prostate cancer. She commenced her PhD in mid-2024.
Sarah completed her medical degree in 2015 at University College London and is currently a Medical Oncology trainee.
Mahaz Kayani (2024-present)
Dr. Mahaz Kayani is a Clinical Research Fellow working on the STAMPEDE2 trial. He commenced his PhD at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit in 2024, where he is developing several translational sub-studies within the STAMPEDE platform.
Mahaz graduated from University College London in 2014 and undertook his Medical Oncology training at the Leeds Cancer Centre.
Filippa Mitzelou (2024-present)
Miss Filippa Mitzelou is a Research Technician working on the RADICALS-TR clinical trial, which aims to identify prostate cancer patients who will benefit from androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in salvage radiotherapy after prostatectomy.
She obtained her First Class BSc (Hons) in Applied Biomedical Science from the University of Essex in 2024 and has a background in histopathology and molecular pathology.