Submitted by Vicky Yee K Reid on Thu, 01/12/2022 - 12:29
The EngBio IRC welcomes new joint chairs Prof. Laura Machesky, Dr Jenny Molloy and Coordinator Hend Aly to Cambridge Engineering Biology network.
A warm EngBio IRC welcome to our new joint Chairs, Professor Laura Machesky from Dept of Biochemistry, Dr Jenny Molloy, Dept of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology and Coordinator Hend Aly who is covering Steph Norwood while on maternity leave. Our congratulations to Steph on the birth of her baby daughter last month.
Professor Laura Machesky is currently the Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry, having recently moved to Cambridge from Glasgow. Her group uses cell biology and cancer models to study actin dynamics, adhesion and membrane trafficking and how these fundamental cell processes guide migration, cancer invasion and metastasis. Her group is interested in how cells sense physical parameters of their environment and adapt their signaling and metabolic flux in response to environmental stimuli. She collaborates with bioengineers and physicists to develop reproducible and tuneable tools for modelling normal and cancerous cell and tissue function. She is currently president of the British Society for Cell Biology, a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Dr Jenny Molloy is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, building technologies for an open, globally inclusive and equitable bioeconomy through the Open Bioeconomy Lab. She develops biomanufacturing tools and technologies that are sustainable by design and deployable in low-resource contexts. Her group also investigates the most effective ways that their research can make a positive impact in developing and emerging economies, particularly the effect of open licensing and collaborative development with end users. Jenny was a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Synthetic Biology, chairs an independent multi-sectoral working group on Local Production and Diagnostic and has co-founded four social enterprises and nonprofits supporting the development and deployment of open source tools for science.
Hend Aly is the new IRC Coordinator and Events manager. She has previously worked in various capacities for the United Nations. She has received interdisciplinary graduate degrees in political science and urban studies.
The new team along with Vicky Reid, the IRC's Events and Communications Assistant are working hard to build our community by sharing news and opportunities on the EngBio website, Twitter and newsletter, organising events and providing networking and training opportunities for researchers interested in Synthetic and Engineering Biology across the University and beyond.