Dr Michelle Percharde is an epigenetics and stem cell biologist. She carried out her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge and PhD in reprogramming and nuclear receptors at Imperial College, London. In 2013, she moved to UCSF and was awarded a CIRM postdoctoral fellowship to carry out her postdoctoral training with Prof. Miguel Ramalho-Santos. She moved to Imperial College and the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS) and in May 2019 started the Chromatin & Development Group, funded by one of the first ever UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships.

Key hobbies outside of work involve biking, trying to create furniture with her husband, scuba diving and baking.

Dr Sheila Xie - Senior research scientist

Sheila earned her PhD from the University of Glasgow before joining the MRC LMS. She initially worked with Prof. Ana Pombo, focusing on epigenetic regulation and chromatin architecture, and later transitioned to Prof. David Rueda's Single Imaging group. In July 2019, Sheila joined the Percharde lab where she continues to excel as an experienced cell biologist. Her expertise primarily lies in high-resolution microscopy techniques, which she employs to probe nuclear organization and gene regulation.

Dr Paul Chammas - Postdoc

Paul completed his PhD in 2019 in the Di Croce lab at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, his work focusing on the epigenetic regulation of gene expression during mESC differentiation. He then joined the MRC LMS as a postdoc in the Percharde lab in April 2020. In his free time, Paul is a sports, board game, video game and music enthusiast.

Dr Bryony Leeke - Postdoc

Bryony did her undergraduate studies in Genetics and Zoology at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Between 2013-2015, Bryony worked on zebrafish development in Julia Horsfield’s lab at Otago, first as an Honours student and subsequently an Assistant Research Fellow. In 2015, Bryony joined James Turner’s lab at the Francis Crick Institute for her PhD, working on DNA methylation in marsupial embryonic development. In 2021 Bryony joined the Percharde lab as a post-doc. Outside the lab, Bryony enjoys netball, sewing, and hiking/birdwatching (attempting to identify British birds she has never seen before).

Dr Audrey Putman - Postdoc

Audrey completed her PhD in 2023 in Eric Miska's lab at the University of Cambridge, based within the Gurdon Institute and the Department of Genetics. In her PhD research, using East African cichlid fishes, known for their extraordinary rates of diversification, she employed multi-omic strategies to explore the role of the epigenome in mediating plasticity in novel environments. In 2024, now fully computational, she began her postdoc at the MRC LMS in the Percharde and Vaquerizas labs, identifying new roles for transposable elements in human development, cancer, and senescence. Outside of the lab, she enjoys boxing, scuba diving, and exploring London.

Dr Ferran Garcia Llagostera - Postdoc

Ferran Garcia Llagostera was a PhD student in the lab and is now a postdoc. He carried out his undergraduate degree in Genetics at the “Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona”. On the same year he moved to London to study MSc in “Human Molecular Genetics” at Imperial College London. He joined the Chromatin and development lab at September 2019 with a MRC LMS studentship. Some hobbies outside the lab are history and philosophy, gardening, cooking and avoiding to be deported before finishing his PhD once Brexit happens traveling.

Yi Xuan Low - A*Star PhD Student

Yi Xuan joined the lab as a PhD student in October 2021, funded by the NSS (PhD) Scholarship. She attained her B.Sc (Hons) degree at the National University of Singapore. Prior to joining the lab, Yi Xuan undertook her honors project at Wee Wei Tee’s lab, working on understanding factors governing early developmental plasticity and cell fate transitions. Outside of the lab, Yi Xuan enjoys a good game of netball, hiking, and just sitting around with a good cup of tea/coffee and fiction in hand.

Nadisha Gamage - Oxford RFI PhD Student

Nadisha is a joint PhD student between the RFI and Percharde/Hajkova groups at the LMS. She graduated from the University of Birmingham with a BSc. in Medical Biochemistry in 2017. Before starting her PhD at the Rosalind Franklin Institute, she worked as a research technician for the Membrane Protein Laboratory at Diamond Light Source Ltd. Outside of work, she loves listening to music and singing. She would take any chance to explore nature and wilderness, but most certainly would never go camping!

Marzieh Eshagh Nimvari - PhD Student

Marzieh is a PhD student in the research groups of Michelle Percharde and Petra Hajkova at LMS, having joined in April 2024. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology at Tehran University. In 2020, she moved to Italy to pursue a Master’s degree in Medical Biotechnology. For her Master’s thesis, she conducted research at the PDN Department at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Dino Giussani. Following her Master’s graduation, she began a position as a Research Assistant at the CRUK Department at the University of Cambridge, working on the Welcome Leap Delta Tissue project in the Hannon lab. As part of her PhD program, she investigates native 3D chromatin structure across different stages of mouse embryonic development using electron microscopy.

Antonia Ramos Guzmán - PhD Student

Antonia is a PhD student in the Percharde lab. She completed her BSc in Biology at the University of Chile, where she also earned her MSc in the System Microbiology Lab. During her master’s studies, she spent a summer in Saiardi's lab at the LMCB, University College London. Before beginning her PhD, Antonia worked as a research assistant at the "Laboratorio BEM", University of Chile. In the Percharde lab, she is investigating the mechanisms that regulate transposable element activity during early development.

Klaudia Stanik - PhD Student

Klaudia joined the Percharde lab as a PhD student in October 2024. She earned her BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Bath, during which she completed a placement in Makoto Furutani-Seiki's lab at Yamaguchi University, Japan, studying mechanohomeostasis in zebrafish regeneration. Prior to joining the LMS, Klaudia worked as a research assistant in Edmund Kunji's lab, MRC-MBU, University of Cambridge, focusing on structural biology, biophysical assays and preclinical drug screening in collaboration with Apollo therapeutics. As part of the Percharde lab, Klaudia is working with AstraZeneca to investigate transposable element-induced toxicity caused by next generation RNA therapeutics.