Meet the current and former lab members. Eric Schirmer Professor of Nuclear Envelope BiologyEric Schirmer’s group studies the role of tissue-specific nuclear membrane proteins in 3D spatial genome organisation, how this organisation contributes to gene regulation during development and tissue regeneration, and how it is disrupted in human disease. Specifically, the lab uses mammalian tissue culture and mouse models for myogenesis, adipogenesis, and blood cells with a focus on understanding the role of the nuclear envelope in tissue differentiation and lymphocyte activation and how this is disrupted in Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy and lipodystrophy. The lab also studies pathogen interactions with the nuclear envelope. Eric Schirmer worked with Niza Frenkel at the National Institutes of Health in America where he contributed to the discovery of the seventh human herpesvirus before obtaining his PhD with Susan Lindquist at the University of Chicago where he used biophysical approaches to demonstrate the first physical interaction of a prion protein with a chaperone and genetically showed an interaction between the Hsp104 chaperone and the septin ring. His developing interest in filament formation led him to study nuclear intermediate filament lamins with Larry Gerace for his post-doctoral work at The Scripps Research Institute before starting his own lab at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology in 2004, where he was a Wellcome Senior Research Fellow from 2005-2018 and Professor of Nuclear Envelope Biology since 2017. Jose de las Heras Post Doctoral Research FellowAfter a false start as an electronics engineer, I trained as a molecular biologist and obtained my PhD in 1999 studying the unusual transmission patterns of certain chromosomes between interspecific wheat hybrids. This work led me to develop a broad interest for epigenetics and genome organisation, which I continued as a postdoc working with mammalian models.As a postdoc I started gravitating towards the field of bioinformatics, initially purely out of necessity and frustration, but it soon became something I really enjoyed doing. This led me to join the multifaceted Schirmer Lab in 2010 as lab bioinformatician, where I continued to develop my skills. While I keep my hands dirty in as many projects as possible, my work in the lab has been largely focused on the role of tissue-specific Nuclear Envelope Transmembrane proteins (NETs) in tissue differentiation and human disease, and on how the genomic environment influences integration site choice and latency in HIV1 infection. Xuefei Wang Post Doctoral ResearcherMy research interests predominantly center around breast cancer.I obtained my Doctor of Medicine degree from Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, China. During my PhD research, I delved deeply into the mechanisms related to breast cancer metastasis. Specifically, my study explored the targets associated with breast cancer metastasis and developed several nomograms and equipments for predicting breast cancer metastasis. The aim was to translate these research findings into clinical diagnosis and treatment pathways that could genuinely transform clinical practice.In 2020, I successfully completed my PhD program and subsequently continued working as a surgeon in the Breast Surgery Department, PUMCH. This year, I embarked on a new phase of my academic journey as a postdoctoral researcher here, focusing on studying the relationship between the size of nuclei and breast cancer metastasis. Currently, I am in charge of several projects, with funding sourced from entities like the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Onur Duygu Post Doctoral ResearcherFellow of The Royal Society of MedicineDr Duygu is Clinician and candidate scientist- MD (Ege University Medical School, Izmir, Turkey) - with extensive experience on physiopathological mechanisms and treatment approaches for Rare Diseases, Metabolic Disorders, Immunological Diseases and Translational Medicine. His main focus is to adapt his clinical background into benchside by studying key muscle metabolic pathways in Emery Dreifuss Muscular Dystrophy and developing therapeutic approaches on tissue culture cell models. Identification of pivotal points involved in inflammatory and metabolic pathways overlap with Dr Duygu's endeavors on studying therapeutic modalities. Rosina Graham PhD studentI am interested in how changes to the nuclear envelope affect cellular functions and disease pathology.I began my PhD in the Schirmer lab in 2024, investigating sex differences in nuclear lamins and whether these influence macrophage pro-inflammatory function and severity of laminopathy diseases. I am also partly based at the Centre for Inflammation Research.Previously, I completed a Masters by Research in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, where my projects focused on the effects of mechanosignalling on cell metabolism and the role of the nuclear lamina during cardiac development. Qingqin JiPhD student Yuwen GaoPhD student Alumni This article was published on 2025-12-11
