Team

Özgen Deniz – Group Leader

Özgen received her undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Middle East Technical University and MSc degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Ruprecht Karls University. She obtained her PhD in 2014 with Professor Modesto Orozco from Barcelona University, working on nucleosome positioning in budding yeast. She then joined Dr Miguel Branco’s group at Queen Mary University of London for her postdoctoral training to investigate the epigenetic regulation of transposons in early development and cancer. After her postdoc, she joined the Imperial College London as a Research Fellow to establish her own research programme. In 2022, Özgen set up her own lab at the Centre for Haemato-Oncology, Barts Cancer Institute funded by Cancer Research UK, European Hematalogy Association and AstraZeneca.

Other than science, Özgen is a running, swimming, live music and improvised dancing enthusiast.

Hale Tunbak – Postdoc

Hale obtained a degree in Biomedical Sciences from King’s College London specializing in Developmental Neurobiology. She worked as a Research Assistant, including in the labs of William Richardson (UCL), Alexandra Chittka (QMUL) and the Rowe Lab (QMUL), where she obtained her PhD funded by the ERC. Hale joined Deniz lab as a postdoc in October, 2023. She is interested in the contribution of active transposable elements in driving neuroinflammation and anti-tumor immunity and hopes to uncover novel epigenetic regulatory pathways that regulate the phenomena of ‘viral mimicry’ in cancer cells.

Outside of the lab, Hale enjoys training, travelling and trekking.

Naoki Goto – Postdoc

Naoki received his BSc from the Kitasato University. He completed his MSc and Ph.D. degrees at Tokyo Institute of Technology with the mentorship of Professor Hiroshi Kimura. Naoki has studied the regulation and function of DNA methylation and histone modifications (especially H3K36me) in the context of development. Naoki joined the Deniz Lab as a postdoc in October 2024. He is excited to explore the epigenetic regulation of transposons in acute myeloid leukemia.
Outside of research, Naoki loves reading, traveling, and drinking. He is also eager to start new activities (triathlons, climbing, etc.) in the UK.

Francesco Camera – Postdoc

Francesco obtained his undergraduate degree in Biological Science from the University of Messina (IT) and a master`s degree in Functional Genomics from the University of Trieste (IT). After a six-month postgraduate internship in Prof Tatjana Sauka-Spengler`s lab at University of Oxford, he moved to Manchester where he completed his PhD in Prof Tim Somervaille’s lab at CRUK-Manchester institute. During his PhD he investigated the molecular regulation of the transcription factor IRX3 in acute myeloid leukaemia by applying long-range chromatin interaction analyses, genome editing and enhancer-function studies. He is now interested in investigating the role of transposons in the complex gene regulatory networks that underline AML onset and progression.

When not at the lab, Francesco likes travelling and playing football

Dmitry Prokopov – Postdoc

Dmitry obtained his B.Sc. in Molecular Biology at Novosibirsk State University in 2016. He then completed his M.Sc. in Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology at the same institution, specialising in high-throughput sequencing data analyses. Dmitry earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS in 2022, under the supervision of Professor Vladimir Trifonov, focusing on the evolution of repetitive DNA elements and sex chromosomes in sturgeons. He worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS from 2016 to 2023 and at the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR from 2021 to 2022. Dmitry’s research fields include evolutionary biology, comparative genomics, functional genomics, genome annotation and NGS sequence analysis algorithms.

Outside science, Dmitry enjoys reading and computer game development

Aisha Moussa – PhD Student

Aisha obtained her MPharmacol from the University of Bath in 2024, where she completed a 12-month industrial placement at UCB in Slough. During this placement, she focused on visualising and quantifying changes in kidney morphology and vasculature in chronic kidney disease (CKD) in vivo models. Her project involved using contrast-enhanced computed tomography and histological analysis to assess fibrosis biomarkers, providing insight into disease progression. Aisha joined the Deniz lab as a PhD student in September 2024.

Outside of the lab, Aisha enjoys playing netball, running, and travelling.

Bryce Drylie – PhD student

Bryce received his BSc Molecular Cell Biology from the University of York. He completed his MRes thesis with the Bridge Lab at York –  a project identifying HIF-1 co-regulators and their modulation in JAK2V617F-driven myeloproliferative neoplasms. Bryce joined the Deniz Lab as a PhD student in September 2023.

In his spare time, Bryce enjoys drawing and hiking.

Eve Leddy – PhD student

Eve obtained her BSc Biochemistry from the University of Bristol in 2021, and MRes from UCL in 2022 where her project focused on validating markers of treatment resistance in Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia in the Giustacchini lab. She subsequently worked as a technician at the UCL Institute of Child Health’s core flow cytometry facility for a year until joining the Deniz lab as a PhD student in November of 2023.

Outside of the lab, Eve enjoys reading, travelling, music and crafting.