Members

Matilde Concilio – PDRA

Mati holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Materials Chemistry from the University of Bologna (Italy) and a joint Master’s degree in Polymer Science from Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt Universität, Technische Universität Berlin, and Universität Potsdam. She completed her PhD in 2023 at the University of Warwick (UK) under the supervision of Prof. Remzi Becer, focusing on the synthesis of oxazoline/methacrylate-based graft copolymers and their thermoresponsive behaviour and self-assembly in solution. In October 2022, she joined the Williams Group at the University of Oxford for her first postdoctoral position, working on dynamic interactions and polyester-based covalent adaptable networks for sustainable resins and adhesives with industrial relevance. In March 2026, she joined the Contini Group for her second postdoctoral position, where she works on the synthesis of antimicrobial and biomimetic materials.

Zain Raef – PhD student

Zain joined the group in October 2025 as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow. She completed an MSc Degree in Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine at University College London, UK. Zain’s PhD project will focus on engineering dynamic polymeric synthetic cells to advance the understanding of membrane–condensate interactions and their potential applications in therapeutic interventions as a part of the ComeInCell Doctoral Network on Integrative Synthetic Cell Design.

Percy Scott – PhD student

Percy joined the group in October 2025. He completed an MSci Degree in Medicinal Chemistry at Imperial College London, UK. Percy’s PhD project will focus on Engineering Dynamic Polymeric Synthetic Cells.

Yeyang Sun – PhD student

Yeyang joined the group in January 2023 after completing an MSc Degree in Advanced Materials Science at the University College London, UK. Yeyang’s PhD project focuses on engineering dynamic polymeric synthetic cells, co-supervised with Prof. Theoni Georgiou, Prof. Oscar Ces and Prof. John Seddon.

Julia Purrinos De Oliveira – Research Assistant

Julia is a Research Assistant working on the Schmidt Sciences DevCell Project to build a scalable Synthetic Cell Platform. She did her Systems and Synthetic Biology MRes working on 3D-Printed Multi-Responsive Artificial Tissue Models.

Kamilya X. V. Reid – MRes student

Kamilya is a Nanomedicine and Nanodiagnostics MRes student working on swimming hydrogel-based microrobots for targeted cargo delivery and co-supervised with Belal Ahmad.

Finn Laslett – MRes student

Finn is an MRes student in Systems and Synthetic Biology. He is working on developing biohybrid plant cells, co-supervised by Giovanni Sena.