People
Laura Pellegrini, PhD
Group Leader
Laura Pellegrini joined the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology at KCL after receiving her Wellcome Trust Career Development Award. She started her laboratory in October 2023, focusing on the study of cerebral and choroid plexus organoids to understand brain development. During her postdoc at the MRC-LMB in Cambridge in the Lancaster’s lab, she developed an organoid model of the choroid plexus and cerebrospinal fluid secretion. This work offered insights into how SARS-CoV-2 might affect the brain. Her current research looks at the choroid plexus organoid model to study brain development, CSF biomarkers, and how the blood-CSF-barrier repairs after injury.
Elizabeth Apsley, PhD
Postdoc
Lizzy was awarded her PhD by the University of Oxford, where she worked in the lab of Esther Becker. Her PhD work used organoids to study early cerebellar development and investigate the role of language-associated gene FOXP2 in the human cerebellum. Her research is now focused on studying the maturation of the choroid plexus and its response to acute physical injury.
See Swee Tang, PhD
Postdoc
See Swee obtained his PhD in Bioengineering at Imperial College London. During which, he developed an organ-on-a-chip platform for advanced optical imaging to study the dynamics of mechanosensitive proteins on the cell membrane. At present, he is investigating the effect of chemical insults to the developing choroid plexus and the blood-CSF barrier integrity, using choroid plexus organoid model.
Jessica Kapadia, MSc
Research Assistant
Jessica received her Master’s degree in Neuroscience, specialising in neurodegeneration under the supervision of Professor Christopher Shaw at King’s College London. Following her degree, she joined Professor Robin Ali’s lab at the Centre for Cell and Gene Therapy as a Research Technician, where she specialised in differentiating human stem cells into retinal organoids. She was later promoted to Senior Stem Cell Technician, where she managed the stem cell lab. Driven by a keen interest in developmental neurobiology, Jessica joined Dr Laura Pellegrini’s lab at the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, focusing on the human choroid plexus organoid model. Outside the lab, she enjoys painting, reading, and dancing.
Marian Fernandez-Otero
Research Assistant
Marian is a Research Technician specialising in histology. She previously worked in neurodevelopment labs in Spain, King's College London and Harvard Medical School. Now, she is working on deciphering the early development of the choroid plexus in humans and how could we match it on our organoids model.