GROUP LEADER
Andrea Crisanti
Principal Investigator
Andrea Crisanti is Professor of Molecular Parasitology at Imperial College London. He has pioneered the Molecular Biology of the human malaria vector Anopheles gambiae and has made numerous important scientific contributions that have advanced the genetic and molecular knowledge of the malaria parasite and its mosquito vector.
He is also a member of the Italian Parliament (Senato), and has been instrumental in the COVID-19 response in Italy, inspiring public health authorities to implement effective control measures.
INTERNAL STAFF
Lucy Collyns
Administrator
Lucy Collyns is the Crisanti Lab’s longest serving member, having joined the lab in 2000. Lucy is the Lab’s administrator, and Prof. Crisanti’s Personal Assistant.
When she’s not taking care of the Lab’s paperwork you can find Lucy hugging trees and forest bathing.
Matt Gribble
Insectary Manager
Matt is the manager of the Crisanti Lab Insectary at South Kensington. He has a degree in Zoology from Stirling University in Scotland, and after graduating spent several years working as a field assistant in Southern Africa and New Zealand.
When not with the mosquitoes, Matt can be found trying to control his Whippet Ernie, watching cricket or playing football.
Carla Siniscalchi
Research Associate / Laboratory Manager
Carla Siniscalchi is a Research Associate / Lab Manager improving gene drive on double sex in Anopheles gambiae. Carla was a PhD student at University of Perugia and she spent some years of her PhD at Imperial College working with TALEN and Zing fingers in Drosophila melanogaster and Anopheles gambiae.
Carla believes that things can get done with dedication and passion. When she tackles a problem she is like a dog with a bone until it is sorted.
Clelia Supparo
Senior Project Manager
Clelia Supparo is the Senior Project Manager of Crisanti Lab, with over 15 years’ experience in managing European, National and US-funded awards, both within the private and public sector. Her duties range from identifying funding opportunities to preparing financial reports, dealing with HR, IP and resources allocation.
She has a Master in European Studies, Policy Advisor and Project Consultant, but also an MA in Bilingual translation, and occasionally provides translation and editing services to charities and small private companies.
RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
Federica Bernadini
Research Associate
Federica Bernadini (they/them) is a Research Associate with over 10 years experience at Crisanti Lab. Their role as team leader involves the supervision and management of the Lab’s scientific activities, including basic research and vector control strategies.
Sex determination and meiotic sex chromosome inactivation are constantly on their mind. When not busy with this they enjoy photographing people and treating them with delicious food.
Barbara Fasulo
Research Associate
Barbara is a Senior Research Associate and convenor for the “Advance topics in Parasitology and Vector Biology” course at Imperial College London. Her research involves looking for possible mosquito gene targets to limit female fertility or survival. She was previously employed at the University of California Santa Cruz, where she studied the cell cycle, cytoskeleton and epigenetic mechanisms in D. melanogaster.
Barbara is a self-learner, passionate photographer (@babisfa), piano amateur, bread maker and more.
Akash Sharma
Research Associate
Akash is a postdoctoral research associate developing strategies to improve the performance of gene drives in the main vector of malaria Anopheles gambiae. He received his PhD in evolutionary and developmental genetics from the University of Groningen Netherlands / University of Zurich.
His research interests are engineering gene drive systems and exploring sex-determination pathways in insect disease vectors. His hobbies are reading, hiking and cricket.
Ignacio Tolosana
Research Associate
Ignacio Tolosana is a Research Associate and former PhD student of the Crisanti Lab, exploring population genetic control technologies linked to the Y chromosome. He became interested in vector control during his internship at the Kiggins lab (University of Cambridge) when he worked with Wolbachia in different drosophila species.
You can also find him climbing, playing football or watering and whispering to his plants.
TECHNICIANS
Research Technician
“Microinjection Goddess” and “Party Planner”. Louise is currently testing new gene drive lines and supporting other projects. Lousie has previous experience in mammalian genetics at the MRC, healthcare experience in the NHS, and pulling pints of wine in ‘spoons.
In 2020, she became the first wingwalker of the decade, but really her greatest sense of achievement is that she’s finally managed to make time to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea for 5 minutes.
Lee Phillimore
Research Technician
Lee Phillimore is a Research Technician at the Crisanti Lab. Before making the jump to malaria research, he attained an MSC in neuroscience and his previous experience involved working with Drosophila in the fields of stem cell biology and nociception.
His ultimate career goal is to work at all of the universities in London. Three down, twenty to go. In his spare time, he enjoys having a nice sit down and a look out of the window.
Filip Vasilijevic
Research Technician
Filip is a Research Technician, working on the regulatory side of the gene drive mosquito population control project. Filip studied Biochemistry, and since graduating has had a variety of work experience, including running a charity, working in pharmacovigilance, being a Lab Tech and Product manager in a Genoamics lab and as a Fertility Research Assistant.
In his spare time he can be found using his label maker or upside down on a trapeze.
Charlie Booty
Research Technician
Charlie is a Research Technician responsible for maintaining the wild type Anopheles colonies, as well as working on the generation of gene drive mosquitoes in An. arabiensis. Prior to joining the lab, he held a variety of roles in Medical communications and scientific communications before coming to his senses and attaining an MSc in Parasitology & Pathogen biology.
When not busy sexing in the insectary he can be most often found reading a book somewhere green.
James Philpott
Research Technician
James is a Research Technician supporting work investigating sex-determination genes and pathways relevant to the engineering approaches used by the lab. After spending 4 years studying at Imperial, he spent some time working in a brewery and then worked in a malaria parasite-focused group at LSHTM before returning to South Kensington in 2023.
When not in the insectary or lab he can be found at various gigs, galleries and pockets of nature around London.
Tasmin Nixon
Research Technician
Tasmin is a Research Technician focused on maintaining multiple mosquito lines as well as supporting active ongoing research projects. Tasmin studied biochemistry at UCL and particularly enjoys working on plasmid-based assays and assembly projects, which build on previous experience constructing a reporter system testing guide RNA’s for CRISPR-Cas antimicrobials.
When she’s not talking about music albums or the Breaking Bad universe to someone in the Insectary, Tasmin is crocheting something somewhere for someone.
PhD STUDENTS
Musaad Altamammi
PhD Student
Musaad Altamammi is a PhD student working to create genetic tools for Red Palm Weevil transgenesis. He is focused on utilising CRISPR-based gene drives to develop innovative control strategies for invasive agricultural pests in an effort to reduce the harm they cause to plant and crop production.
Silvia Grilli
PhD Student
Silvia is a PhD student exploring meiosis in Anopheles gambiae to develop vector control strategies against malaria. Silvia was a student in Biological Science at University of Camerino, Italy. Silvia was also a student at the school of Higher Studies Carlo Urbani of the University of Camerino.
When Siliva is not dissecting mosquitoes’ testes, she likes climbing, hiking and traveling.
Giuditta Tancredi
PhD Student
Giuditta is a PhD Student from University of Padova exploring vector control strategies in Anopheles arabienisis. Giuditta was an intern in Crisanti Lab for her bachelor degree and studied Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology at Imperial College Londong in 2020.
She loves cooking, talking about new recipes and keeps the lab stocked with Italian biscuits. She doesn’t like music but books and flowers.
Matteo Vitale
PhD Student
Matteo is a final-year PhD student exploring the mechanisms of sex-determination embryos and spermatogenesis in Anopheles gambiae. His project led him to learn different tools to study biological processes from Bioinformatics to Cytology.
Out of the lab, Matteo is a good gardener and he likes to play bass and classical guitar. He loves fiction in all it’s possible forms.
