Team Members
Dr Simon Moore, Associate Professor (Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London), 2025–Present
Simon is a synthetic biologist with a background in biochemistry. Simon enjoys leading the research group, teaching students, and developing collaborations with industry. In his spare time, he has two daughters to keep him busy, he enjoys running, playing cricket (Walmer Cricket Club) albeit at a concerningly declining rate of competitiveness, and sometimes can be spotted on the golf course once a year.
Dr Molly Bergum, Postdoctoral Researcher (Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London), 2025–Present
Molly Bergum received her PhD from The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, UK with a focus on defence mechanisms of barley toward pathogenic fungi, utilising molecular biology, biochemical, and bioinformatic approaches. Since joining the Moore group in March 2025, Molly has enjoyed using cell-free expression systems and automation to characterise antimicrobial resistance mechanisms in pathogenic bacteria.
Alexandra Butulan, PhD Student (Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London & Syngenta), 2023–Present
Alex is a third year PhD student working in collaboration with Syngenta and her research project focuses on using cell-free synthetic biology to discover novel peptides with potential applications in agriculture. Alex completed her undergraduate and master's degrees in Chemistry with Biomedicine at King's College London. Alex's research interests include cell-free protein synthesis and using synthetic biology to design and optimise pathways for natural product production. Beyond research, Alex enjoys cooking, live music, and exploring speciality coffee.
Charlotte Woolley, PhD Student (School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London), 2023–Present
Charlotte is a PhD student at Queen Mary University of London in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency. Her research uses microbial genetics and synthetic biology to discover and engineer bacteriophage-derived protein complexes as novel antimicrobial strategies against Gram-negative infectious diseases. Beyond her doctoral work, she is interested in biotechnology translation and its role in addressing global health challenges.
Sam McDowall, MSc Molecular Cell Biology (Imperial College London), 2025–Present
Sam completed his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry at the University of Bristol in 2024 and is now a master’s student working alongside Charlotte Woolley. His research aims to discover the role of a bacterial membrane protein regarding host-phage protein interactions, with the aim of further understanding the mechanism of action of these antimicrobial proteins. He enjoys climbing, walking, and also being in the lab.
Leah Duff-Gibson, MSc Molecular Plant and Microbial Sciences (Imperial College London), 2025–Present
Hi I’m Leah. My master’s thesis focuses on secondary metabolite production in Streptomyces bacteria, specifically optimising the yield of an indolocarbazole compound. I am British-American and completed my undergraduate at Kings College London, after relocating from New York City. I am primarily interested in metabolic engineering for bio manufacturing and bioremediation applications, but all things Synbio related fascinate me. Outside the lab, I enjoy listening to live music of all kinds and spending time with friends. I also volunteer at the Bethnal Green Medicinal Garden, where I make my own tinctures and learn about traditional plant-based remedies.
External Supervision
Dr Bethany Martin
Postdoctoral Researcher (Porton Down, UKHSA - Project Leader, Professor Mark J. Sutton)
2025–Present
Postdoctoral Researcher (Porton Down, UKHSA - Project Leader, Professor Mark J. Sutton)
2025–Present
Bethany is a microbiologist from UKHSA Porton Down, who recently received her PhD from the University of Southampton with UKHSA. Her PhD focused on single-cell microfluidic impedance cytometry to study antimicrobial susceptibility. She started her postdoc at UKHSA in August 2024 in collaboration with the Moore group as an external postdoc and is working closely with colleagues at Imperial to develop cell-free expression systems. Bethany is focusing on generating a K. pneumoniae resistome strain collection to study how specific resistance variants influence gene expression and metabolism within the cell-free reaction. Outside of scientific research Bethany enjoys country walks, cooking, and swimming.
Sebastián Bermudez Puga
PhD Student (Co-supervisor: Prof. Ricardo Oliveira, University of São Paulo)
2025–Present
PhD Student (Co-supervisor: Prof. Ricardo Oliveira, University of São Paulo)
2025–Present
Sebastián is from Ecuador and a biotechnologist who studied antimicrobial peptides from natural sources at Ikiam University, in the Ecuadorian rainforest. Currently, Sebastián is a PhD student at the University of São Paulo (Brazil), holding a FAPESP scholarship. Sebastián's research focuses on the broad-spectrum use of antimicrobial peptides in the food and aquaculture industries. In 2024, Sebastián joined the Moore lab at Queen Mary University of London as a visiting PhD student. We are harnessing cell-free synthetic biology to accelerate the development of peptide-based antimicrobial agents.
Alumni
- Yeon Yun Lee (MSc Student, Imperial College London, 2025)
- Hugo Katerbau (MSc Student, Imperial College London, 2025)
- Sanjna Mistry (MSc Student, Imperial College London, 2025)
- Sahana Suthakaran (MSc Student, Queen Mary University of London, 2024) – Subsequent Position: Gap year
- Dr Agata Kennedy (PhD Student, University of Kent, 2020–2025)
- Dr Emma Bartram (Postdoc, Queen Mary University of London, 2024) – Subsequent Position: Source Health Economics
- Dr Lewis Tanner (Postdoc, Queen Mary University of London, 2023–2024) – Subsequent Position: Wellcome Trust
- David Wong (MSc Student, Queen Mary University of London, 2023–2024)
- Dr Lakshmeesha Nagappa (Postdoc, University of Kent, 2021–2023) – Subsequent Position: Aurigene Oncology Limited
- Dr Kameshwari Chengan (PhD, University of Kent, 2020–2024) – Subsequent Position: Senior Scientist, Evolutor
- Thomas Chinnery (Research Assistant, University of Kent, 2022) – Subsequent Position: Technician, Buscaino lab (University of Kent)
- Dr Sarah Blackburn (Postdoc, University of Kent, 2019–2021) – Subsequent Position: Postdoc, Ezcurra lab (University of Kent)
- Harry Meades (MSc Student, University of Kent, 2021–2022) – Subsequent Position: PhD, Ezcurra lab (University of Kent)
- Josh Harman (MSc Student, University of Kent, 2020–2021) – Subsequent Position: Biomedical Scientist, NHS
- Seth Coode (MSc Student, University of Kent, 2019–2020) – Subsequent Position: Life Science Coordinator, Biocair
- Samuel Jones (MSc Student, University of Kent, 2019–2020) – Subsequent Position: PhD, Lawrence lab (University of Kent)
- Katie Latham (MSc Student, University of Kent, 2019–2020) – Subsequent Position: PhD, City St George's University of London