Lab Members
Dr. Sumitra Mohan
Research Associate (Postdoc)
​Sumitra joined the Nagarajan Lab as a Research Associate in the summer of 2022 and is interested in the studying the role of chromatin remodeling factors and other upstream regulators of enhancer RNAs in breast cancers. She has over ten years of experience in oncology research and biomarker studies with a focus on Next Generation sequencing analyses of patients’ samples with solid cancers. Sumitra completed her PhD in Austria and a postdoc at CRUK Manchester Institute, analysing the clinical utility of liquid biopsies from patients with solid cancers.
Dr. Hayden Jones
Research Associate (Postdoc)
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Hayden completed his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science at The University of Manchester. During his time there, he conducted research on the transcription factor ZMYM2. After that, he was accepted into The British Heart Foundation's 4-year PhD programme at The University of Manchester. His research focused on studying the role of lncRNAs and enhancers in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation. Following his PhD, Hayden joined the lab in April 2024 to investigate the role of the chromatin architecture complexes in resistance to endocrine therapy in breast and prostate cancer.
Aamena Patel
Research Associate (Postdoc) in Bioinformatics
Aamena joined the Nagarajan lab as a postdoc in Bioinformatics in July 2024. She completed her PhD at the University of Warwick, where she investigated chromatin remodelling complexes in placental development. In the Nagarajan lab, Aamena continues to explore chromatin remodelling, now focusing on breast cancer. She works closely with the team, predominantly analysing Next Generation Sequencing data to support and advance the lab's research goals.
Dr. Karim Azar
Research Technician
Karim joined the Nagarajan Lab as a Research Technician in July 2024. He completed his PhD in molecular biology in Glioblastoma Multiforme and drug development at the Wolverhampton University. He was working on Mesothelioma Innovative UK project as a postdoc at University of Wolverhampton. In Nagarajan lab, Karim generally supports the lab management and assists in various projects.
Grace Eckersley
MRC-CASE funded PhD student
Naomi Eastwood
Grace completed an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Manchester. During her studies, she undertook a placement at AstraZeneca, where she worked on increasing the expression of challenging proteins. She joined Nagarajan lab in October 2024 for her PhD, focusing on the impact of chromatin remodelling complexes in drug resistance and metastasis.
MCRC-CRUK joint PhD student
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Naomi completed her undergraduate degree in Medical Sciences at the University of Exeter in 2021. During her degree she undertook an industrial placement year at GlaxoSmithKline working in the functional genomics team which sparked her interest in the field of cancer epigenetics. She joined Nagarajan lab in October 2021 of her PhD exploring the role of chromatin remodellers in the context of lobular breast cancer.
Past members
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Jigar Harishkumar Sheth - MSc student 2024
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Anamika Yadav - Research Intern 2024
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Simone Ward - Research Technician 2021-2024
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Danielle Olivier - MSc student 2023
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Octavianus Giovani - MSc student 2023
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Jakub Peczek - Summer Intern 2023
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Maria Aurelia Aguayo Galeano - MSc student 2022
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Tal Sadeh - Postdoc 2021-2022
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Danwei Wang - MSc student 2021