People

Here you can see members of the group.
The next member of the lab might be YOU!

Hee-Kyung Ahn

Royal Society University Research Fellow

Hee-Kyung was born in Seoul, South Korea, and completed her BSc and PhD in Systems Biology at Yonsei University. 
After PhD, Hee-Kyung moved to Norwich, United Kingdom to join The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) as postdoctoral scientist.
Hee-Kyung is interested in how proteins assemble into bigger protein complexes in plant cells. She is particularly interested in how environmental responses can induce changes in protein complex formation. She uses biochemistry, cell biology, as well as plant physiology to understand protein complexes in plants.
Hee-Kyung is passionate about science communication, and has published a popular science book about plants in Korean, named <Universe of Plants (식물이라는 우주)> in 2021.
In her free time, Hee-Kyung likes to read history books and visit museums and galleries, and go for long walks. She also spends most of her time outside work with her husband and daughter.

Picture of Hee-Kyung Ahn, smiling.
Picture of Hayden Burdett, smiling

Hayden Burdett

Postdoctoral scientist

Hayden was born in Adelaide, Australia, and completed a Bachelor of Biotechnology (Honours) and PhD in protein biochemistry at Flinders University, studying flax NLRs.
After completing his PhD, he moved to the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, for a post-doc in the lab of Bostjan Kobe, focusing on studying plant TIR domain structure and enzymatic function.
In 2021, Hayden moved to the University of Edinburgh for a post-doc at the Edinburgh Centre for Cell Biology, studying the effects of ubiquitin marks on chromatin structure, and how proteins interact with these histone modifications.
Hayden joined the Ahn lab in 2025, and is interested in how plant NLRs function in plant immunity, and how plant pathogens and plants manipulate one another at a molecular scale.
Outside of science, Hayden enjoys cooking and baking bread, watching footy and cricket, listening to music, and catching up with friends.

Tana Holmes

Postgraduate student

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