Group Members

Arya Arun

Postdoctoral Researcher
Email: arya.arun@chem.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1865 272606
Office Rodney Porter building, 1st floor, office 20.22

Originally from India, I am a post-doctoral research associate in Patrick's lab. I obtained my DPhil in Chemistry at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Dr. Paul Beer, where I worked in the area of supramolecular chemistry involving the synthesis of interlocked structures (rotaxanes and catenanes) for applications in host-guest recognition and salt-extraction. Outside of the lab, I enjoy reading, hiking and working on my music.

Jonny Burnett

Postdoctoral Researcher
Email: jonny.burnett@chem.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1865 272606
Office Rodney Porter building, 1st floor, office 20.15

I'm Jonny, a biochemistry post-doctoral reseacrh associate in Patrick's lab working on fungal luciferases. Recently I completed a Life Science PhD at the University of Warwick, studying antimicrobial resistance, and the cell wall Divisome enzymes FtsWI. In my spare time I enjoy rugby, bouldering and fantasy novels.

Johannes Lang

Postdoctoral Researcher
Email: johannes.lang@chem.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1865 272606
Office Rodney Porter building, 1st floor, office 20.21

I am a postdoctoral reserach associate in Patrick's lab working on fungal bioluminiscence. I completed my PhD at Heidelberg University, Germany, where I developed novel heterocyclic inhibitors of flaviviral proteases. Beyond science, I enjoy playing football and squash, and reading. My research is funded buy the German Research Foundation DFG through a Walter benjamin fellowship.

Alexander Stead

PhD Student
Email: sasha.stead@merton.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1865 272606
Office Rodney Porter building, 1st floor, office 20.21

I'm Sasha and I am studying for my DPhil in Chemistry. I recently completed my Master's in Biochemistry with Patrick and will be continuing this preliminary work during my PhD, exploring rapid O2 evolving techniques to facilitate time-resolved crystallographic and spectroscopic studies. My PhD is in collaboration with Diamond Light Source.

Emily Heller

PhD Student (co-supervised with Prof. Christopher Schofield)
Email: emily.heller@chem.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1865 272606
Office Rodney Porter building, 1st floor, office 20.21

I'm Emily, a Chemistry DPhil student co-supervised by Patrick Rabe and Chris Schofield. In my DPhil, I will be working on mechanistic studies on IPNS. I completed my undergraduate degree, studying Chemical Biology, with Jay Keasling's group at UC Berkeley. With Jay, I worked on Polyketide Synthase engineering for the biosynthesis of a potent anti-cancer molecule. In my free time, I love to travel, hike, camp, and ferment my own kombucha!

Deniz Yoruk-Mikhailov

PhD Student (co-supervised with Prof. Christopher Schofield)
Email: deniz.yoruk-mikhailov@univ.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1865 272606
Office Rodney Porter building, 1st floor, office 20.21

I am a DPhil in Chemistry student shared between the CJS (Schofield) and PR (Rabe) groups, working on separate projects. In the Rabe group I will be looking into structural changes induced in the IPNS enzyme's crystal structure with synthetic ligands, and the potential of radiation damage affecting structural data gathered by modern crystallographic techniques. With the Schofield group, my work aims to glean further insight into the kinetics and mechanism of the human prolyl hydroxylase domain family of iron oxygenase enzymes (known as PHD1/2/3 or EGLN2/1/3) important in hypoxic response in cells, and thus a wide range of conditions from anaemia to leukaemia.

Ufuk Kucukefe

PhD Student
Email: ufuk.kucukefe@some.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1865 272606
Office Rodney Porter building, 1st floor, office 20.21

I'm Ufuk, a DPhil student in Patrick's lab where I will be working in the field of structural biology with a focus on photoactivatable time-resolved crystallography. I recently got my BSc in Chemistry from Durham University, where I worked on RNA-binding proteins. Outside the lab I enjoy reading, creative writing, and playing tennis.

Isabel Wright

Master Student
Email: isabel.wright@trinity.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1865 272606
Office Rodney Porter building, 1st floor, office 20.21

I am Isabel, an MChem student at Trinity College, Oxford. I will be working this year on photo-cage Chemistry, targeting the fungal bioluminescent cycle, as well as investigating substrate scope of the enzymes involved. Outside of academics, I enjoy singing in my funk band, reading and musical theatre!

Simon Zuhong Wang

Master Student
Email: zuhong.wang@wadham.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1865 272606
Office Rodney Porter building, 1st floor, office 20.21

I'm Simon, an MChem student from Wadham College, Oxford. Fascinated by the rapidly developing field of fungal bioluminescence, I joined the Rabe Group to pursue the exciting opportunity of engineering autoluminescence in heterologous systems through molecular cloning, protein expression and optimisation. Such systems could lead to a new generation of genetically encoded reporter systems and provide a versatile platform for the development of bioimaging and diagnostic tools, while also deepening our understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms. Outside the lab, I enjoy films, am a music enthusiast and play several instruments, including the violin and guitar.