Team

Our team is based in the Centre for 3D Models of Health and Disease at UCL. We’ve been growing since 2020. Want to join? Contact us!

Current Team Members

Dr Susan Heavey is an Associate Professor in translational medicine at UCL. She set up this research team in 2020. Susan’s key interests are ex vivo culture, 3D models, spatial multiomics, targeted therapies, signalling pathways in cancer, health inequalities, sustainable research, and science communication. Find out more!
Dr Uzoamaka Okoli joined the team in 2022 as a Research Fellow, on sabbatical from her role as Senior Lecturer in the University of Nigeria. She is researching spatial transcriptomics in cancer.

Dr Alisha Pati-Alam is a trainee urologist working in the team as a clinical fellow & PhD student, having joined us in 2024. She is researching radio recurrent and radio resistant prostate cancer.

Vithurran Thavarajah began his PhD in this team in 2021. He is researching how the hallmarks of cancer can be best recapitulated ex vivo
Premkamon (Bow) Chaipanichkul joined the team in 2021, during her PhD with Dr Kate Rickett’s group. She is co-supervised by Dr Heavey & is working with this team to characterise the biology of her 3D nanoparticle enhanced radiotherapy models.
Andrei Enica (MRC-funded PhD student) is focusing on how spatial multiomics can inform the prevention of lung cancer. His work involves understanding the immune system during cancer development, a context in which spatial information is crucial. Requiring both wet lab and extensive computational work, Andrei is jointly supervised by Dr James Reading (UCL Cancer Institute) and Dr Susan Heavey (Centre for 3D Models of Health and Disease).
Tan Xu began working with the team in 2021, during her PhD with Dr Kate Rickett’s group. She is co-supervised by Dr Heavey & is working with this team to characterise the biology of her 3D nanoparticle enhanced radiotherapy models.

Alumni

Dr Dechao Feng joined the team in 2024 as a visiting Urologist, funded by the China Scholarship Council. He investigated cancer biology and medicine. See his publications here.

Eduardo Mota joined the team in 2023/2024 for a 12 month research project in fulfilment of his MRes from the University of Porto. He was investigating 3D models of prostate cancer.

Associate Professor Pascaline Fru joined us in 2024, on sabbatical from her role in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, with her visit funded by an Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Award. She is interested primarily in pancreatic cancer. Find out more here.

Dr Gokhan Akman joined the team in 2021 as an honorary Research Associate. He was researching spatial transcriptomics in cancer.
Lara Pierantoni joined the team in 2022 as a travel scholar, during her PhD with the 3Bs Research Group in Portugal. Here, she was investigating clinical breast cancer data.

Dissertation Project Students

Thank you and well done to all of our current & former project students, we really enjoyed working with you & wish you all the best for your future!


2024/2025 | Angela Ani | University of Nigeria MSc PGT | Breast cancer biology
2024/2025 | Ezinne Chukwuma | University of Nigeria MSc PGT | Breast cancer biology
2023/2024 | Tishe Coker | iBSc Oncology | UG | Prostate cancer disparities
2023/2024 | Nifemi Akingboye | iBSc Surgical Sciences | Breast cancer disparities
2023/2024 | Zeynep Behram | BSc Medical Sciences and Engineering | Sustainability
2022/2023 | Zahra Ahmed | iBSc Surgical Sciences | Prostate cancer models
2021/2022 | Thiara Rupasinghe | iBSc Surgical Sciences | Prostate cancer treatment
2021/2022 | Michael Chiu | iBSc Surgical Sciences | Prostate cancer treatment
2021/2022 | Devansh Tandon | iBSc Surgical Sciences | Prostate cancer treatment
2021/2022 | Supriya Potamsetty | iBSc Surgical Sciences | Prostate cancer treatment
2021/2022 | Bavin Pathmaraj | iBSc Surgical Sciences | Prostate cancer treatment
2021/2022 | Lina Pak | BSc Medical Sciences and Engineering | Sustainability
2021/2022 | Katarina Pedersen | MSCi Medical Sciences and Engineering | Sustainability
2021/2022 | Laurentiu Maftei | MSCi Medical Sciences and Engineering | Prostate cancer bioinformatics
2020/2021 | Nafisa Barma | iBSc Surgical Sciences | Prostate cancer bioinformatics
2020/2021 | Henry Bamber | BSc Medical Sciences and Engineering | Histology image analysis
2020/2021 | Daniel Silva | BSc Medical Sciences and Engineering | Histology image analysis