Imperial College London
OUR TEAM
DR JULIEN VERMOT
Principal Investigator
Reader in Developmental Biomechanochemical Signalling
Julien leads the biomechanics and signalling lab focusing on the understanding on the impact of mechanical stresses during morphogenetic and regenerative processes.
Julien obtained his PhD in developmental biology from the University of Strasbourg in 2003, where he worked on the role of retinoic acid during embryonic development. He then worked as a visiting scientist the Stowers Institute for Biomedical Research in Kansas City, USA, followed by a post-doctoral position at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena where he developed new tools to study the role of mechanical forces during development. He was Research Director at the French INSERM before joining the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London in 2019.
For his research, he has won numerous prizes, including selection for the EMBO Young Investigator program (YIP), the Career Development Award from the HFSP and the ERC Consolidator Grant.
DR EMMANUELLE STEIB
Postdoctoral Fellow
Emmanuelle is a postdoc in the Vermot lab, focussing on the structure and functions of primary cilia during cardiovascular development. She has been awarded a Marie Sklodowska Curie Individual Fellowship to establish a novel super-resolution method for high precision imaging in whole zebrafish embryos. Her aim is to provide a comprehensive and dynamic description of primary cilia characteristics from organelle- to tissue-scale.
Emmanuelle initially studied Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Strasbourg (France), then obtained a PhD in Life Sciences from the University of Geneva (Switzerland).
CHRISTINA VAGENA-PANTOULA
PhD student
Christina is a third-year PhD student in the Vermot Lab. Her research project places mechanical forces in the focus of effectors of heart development and integrates newly defined mechanotransduction pathways into the preexisting knowledge on signalling pathways involved in valve morphogenesis. She combines live imaging techniques, cell biology and genetic analysis to characterise the physical stimuli and molecular mechanisms that specify cell responses to flow forces during embryogenesis using zebrafish as a model organism.
Christina studied Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece and obtained a Master's degree in Translational Research in Biomedicine.
ANTOINE SANCHEZ
PhD Student
Antoine is a third-year bioengineering PhD student working in the Vermot lab under the joint supervision of Prof. Anil Anthony Bharath and Dr. Julien Vermot. His research revolves around the processing of 3D high resolution data volumes to enhance and simplify the process of tissue analysis. He uses deep learning segmentation approaches as well as traditional image processing algorithms to extract, quantify and qualify various biological structures.
Antoine studied general engineering at Grenoble INP in France, before focusing on signal and image processing as well as information and communication, obtaining a Master’s degree in these fields.
SULAIMAAN LIM
PhD student
Sulaimaan is a second-year biophysics PhD student working in the Vermot lab with joint supervision from Dr Julien Vermot and Dr Chiu Fan Lee. His research is focused on using theoretical physics to model the development of the zebrafish heart from an active matter perspective with a particular focus on cell and tissue mechanics.
For his undergrad, Sulaimaan studied Natural Sciences at Fitzwilliam College Cambridge, taking Physics in his master’s year with a particular focus on biophysics and statistical mechanics.
DR HAJIME FUKUI
Postdoctoral Fellow (Alumnus)
Hajime obtained a PhD from Kyoto University in Japan. During his research career, he is focusing on the mechanisms of cardiac morphogenesis, utilising zebrafish imaging, genetic and biophysics approaches. His work recently showed that forces directly trigger bioelectric signals and subsequently activate Nfat signalling in EdCs of the AVC in zebrafish embryos. His future goal is to reveal the mechanosensory mechanism influenced by the force components for the heart valve development.
RENEE WEI-YAN CHOW
Postdoctoral Fellow (Alumnus)
Using zebrafish as a model, Renee's project explores how mechanical forces due to heartbeat and blood flow impacts the morphogenesis of cellularised endocardial cushions into valve leaflets. Renee uses a variety of imaging tools to study zebrafish atrioventricular valve morphogenesis and she use surgical, chemical, and genetic techniques to modify cardiac forces and genes involved in the flow response.
VERMOT LAB ALUMNI
Anne-Laure Duchemin, Lecturer, University of Strasbourg, France
Hajime Fukui, Senior Scientist, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center (NCVC), Osaka, Japan
Hélène Vignes, Senior Scientist, University of Strasbourg, France (PhD Prize of Strasbourg University)
Pedro Campinho, Microscopy and Imaging Specialist, Champalimaud Centre, Lisbon, Portugal
Rita Rua Ferreira, Pre-Award Funding Manager, NOVA Medical School, Lisbon, Portugal (PhD Prize of Strasbourg University)
Francesco Boselli, Lecturer, Durham University, UK
Jacky Goetz, Group Leader, University of Strasbourg, France
Emily Steed, Research Support Officer, EMBL EBI Cambridge, UK
Caroline Ramspacher, Project leader Innovation & startupership Partner, Eurosante Lille, France
Emilie Heckel, Senior R&D Scientist, Eli Health, Montreal, Canada
Halina Anton, Lecturer, University of Strasbourg, France
Marina Peralta, Senior Scientist, University of Strasbourg, France