Group leader
 Mark van der Giezen (m.vandergiezen{at}exeter.ac.uk). 
I originally studied unusual hydrogen-producing mitochondria, called hydrogenosomes, of anaerobic fungi. This was part of my PhD in the Netherlands in the group of the late Rudolf Prins (University of Groningen) and of my EMBO Fellowship in the lab of Martin Embley (now at Newcastle) at the Natural History Museum in London. Subsequently, I worked on mitochondrial remnants called mitosomes from the human parasites Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia intestinalis in the lab of Jorge Tovar at Royal Holloway. In 2004, I became Lecturer in Microbiology at Queen Mary, University of London. In 2007, I was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Evolutionary Biochemistry at the University of Exeter. Here, we continue our study of unusual mitochondria of anaerobic parasites.
Office: GP213, tel.: +44 1392 723483

PhD-students

Sheera Abdullah (sa381{at}exeter.ac.uk).
I have graduated from Damascus University, Syria, with a Master’s degree on breast cancer and tumour markers. My work was published in the Journal of Laboratory Diagnosis and the Journal of Damascus University. Subsequently, I received a scholarship to obtain a PhD in the field of parasitology at the University of Exeter. My work in this lab focuses on the enigmatic human intestinal parasite Blastocystis. More particular, we focus on the unusual mitochondria of this intestinal parasite. Techniques used are molecular and cellular biology and biochemistry.
Office: GP212, tel.: +44 1392 729296.

Kim Payne (ka247{at}exeter.ac.uk).
In 2010, I graduated with a Biological Sciences degree at the University of Exeter. Having worked in this lab as a  Wellcome Trust Vacation Scholar, I knew I wanted to do a PhD on human infectious diseases. My project involves unusual FeS-proteins from the urogenital parasite Trichomonas vaginalis and I hope my research will eventually benefit others.
Office: GP212, tel.: +44 1392 729296.

Alumni

Dr. Maria Siegesmund. PhD-student (2007-2011) & post-doc (2011), now working at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Dr. Kerem Terali. PhD-student (2006-2010), now at the DNA Laboratory (of the committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus).
Frank  Zhang. MSc Biotechnology and Enterprise student (2010).
Gopal Govindapurath. MSc Biotechnology and Enterprise student (2010).
Dr. Kailash Chand. Post-doc (2009-2010), now setting up his own lab at the National Institute of Malaria Research in New Delhi with a personal fellowship.
Joseph Harvey. Wellcome Trust Vacation Scholar (Summer 2010).
Ifeanyi Nwachukwu. MSc Biocatalysis student (2009), now PhD-student in Aachen, Germany.
Nebibe Mutlu. Erasmus placement student (Summer 2009).
Kim Appleby. Wellcome Trust Vacation Scholar (Summer 2009), now PhD-student in our lab.
Dr. Karleigh Hamblin. PhD-student (2005-2008), now at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down.
Dr. Matthew Rogers. Post-doc (2007-2008), now at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton.
Phuong 'Fiona' Luong. Research Assistant (2005-2007), now at the Institute of Cancer of the Barts and the London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Veronica Comper. Wellcome Trust Vacation Scholar (Summer 2007), now PhD-student with Richard Nichols and James Cotton at Queen Mary, University of London.
Maria Volynchuk. Nuffield Foundation summer student (Summer 2006).