Jeremy Mottram is Professor in Pathogen Biology and director of the York Biomedical Research Institute. He trained as a biochemist at the University of Kent at Canterbury (BSc) and the University of Glasgow (PhD) before carrying out postdoctoral work at the University of California San Francisco in molecular parasitology, with a focus on gene expression and RNA splicing in African trypanosomes.  He returned to Glasgow for further postdoctoral research in the newly formed Wellcome Unit of Molecular Parasitology, before developing an independent molecular parasitology research programme as an MRC Senior Research Fellow (1993-2003), being appointed Professor of Molecular and Cellular Parasitology in 2000.  In Glasgow Jeremy served as Head of the Division of Infection and Immunity (2008-2010), Deputy Director of the Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation (2010-2013) and Dean of Graduate Studies (2013–2015). He joined the Department of Biology at the University of York in 2016. He has been a member of the MRC Infections and Immunity Board (2010–2014) and has been on both national and international review boards for the Institute Pasteur, INSERM and NIMR. Jeremy is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and a Pesquisador Visitante Especial, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Nathaniel is a GCRF NTD Network Research Fellow. He is working to validate epigenetic reader proteins of Leishmania as new drug targets. Several of these targets are being characterised using genetic, proteomic, biochemical and structural techniques. This work has been supported in part by the pharmaceutical company GSK and it is hoped that these targets can be validated using chemical probes from this collaboration. Nathaniel previously worked on protein kinases in Trypanosoma brucei and Toxoplasma gondii, investigating them as potential drug targets and virulence factors.

As a Research Associate, Rachel is involved in tagging proteins for localisation studies, loss-of-function genetics, and phenotypic screening to understand the regulation and function of Leishmania mexicana protein kinases. Rachel completed a PhD at the University of Glasgow, working with Professor Richard McCulloch in the field of molecular parasitology, specifically on RAD51 and RAD51 paralogs in Trypanosoma brucei. Prior to this, she completed an MSc in Medical Molecular Microbiology at the University of Nottingham where she worked on the regulatory mechanisms of quorum sensing genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. She completed a BSc in Microbiology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Previous to her posts at the University of York, she has worked for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service as clinical audit manager and also for the University Hospital of South Manchester as infection prevention surveillance and audit officer.

Juliana is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Mottram lab. Juliana obtained her Bachelors in Pharmacist-Biochemist (2008) and her MSc (2011) in Infection Disease from the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES), Brazil. She completed her PhD (2015) within the UFES with one year of sandwich program in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Glasgow. Currently, Juliana is investigating molecular markers associated with natural miltefosine resistance in the Leishmania parasite.

Romina is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Mottram lab. Romina obtained her degree in Molecular Biology from the University of San Luis (UNSL, Argentina, 2013) and later her PhD in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the University of San Martin (UNSAM, Argentina, 2018) where she investigated new mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of T. vaginalis. She joined the Mottram lab as a Postdoctoral researcher in 2019, where she is applying genetic and proteomic approaches to elucidate the role of kinases in different aspects of the biology of Leishmania mexicana.  

Sergios joined Prof Jeremy Mottram's lab as a PhD student in 2019. He obtained his BSc (Hons) in Biology from the University of York in 2019. For his final year research project during his undergraduate studies he investigated possible novel kinetochore proteins in Leishmania mexicana, also in the Mottram lab. Currently he is trying to elucidate the function and essentiality of deubiquitinases in L. mexicana and how these proteins are implicated in the differentiation process of this particular parasite. His four-year PhD project is fully funded by the Department of Biology of the University of York.

Charlotte is a Research Technician in the Mottram lab. She obtained her Bsc(Hons) in Biochemistry with an Industrial Placement year in 2019 from the University of Bath. Her undergraduate course involved a year researching lysosomal storage disorders at Cardiff University. She joined the lab in 2019, primarily to assist research on the Kinome project, particularly supporting the work of Nicola Baker with characterising a range of protein kinases in Leishmania. 

Eden is a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Jeremy Mottram lab. He obtained his BSc in Biology and his MSc in Sciences with emphasis on Cell Biology and Parasitology working with mevalonate kinase, a conserved glycosomal enzyme that is unusually secreted and modulates T. cruzi invasion. In 2016 Eden obtained his PhD at the Federal University of Sao Paulo working with Prof. Renato Mortara, investigating the role of host-cell cytoskeleton associated proteins during invasion of extracellular amastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi. From 2017 to 2021 he worked at Prof. Renato Mortara’s lab as a Post-doctoral research fellow funded by The Sao Paulo Research Foundation investigating how trypomastigotes of T. cruzi manages its scape from the host cell. During this period he spent 12 months at Dr. Kevin Tyler’s lab – University of East Anglia (Norwich – UK) as a visiting researcher funded by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation for abroad internship. Currently at Jeremy Mottram lab Eden is working on the Welcome trust funded grant – LeishGEM. His main focus is the subcellular localization of proteins from Leishmania mexicana using proteomic approaches associated with LOPIT-DC techniques. In addition he is also working with genetic modified cell lines for the identification of molecules important for the interaction of Leishmania parasite with its host.

Ciara is a PhD student in the labs of Paul Kaye and Jeremy Mottram. She is working on an interdisciplinary project aiming to understand host-parasite interactions and dissemination dynamics in visceral leishmaniasis. The project combines her interests in immunology, parasitology, mathematics and biophysics.

Ciara joined the University of York in 2020, after completing her MSci degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Glasgow; this included a placement year at GSK, working on target validation in Respiratory Immunology, and a final year project working in the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology on Toxoplasma gondii mitochondria.  
Ciara is also involved in science outreach, having been involved in various projects including the collaborative Parasite Street Theatre project with Surge Street Theatre and the Wellcome Trust. Combining theatre with public engagement in science is something she hopes to continue with future projects.  

Jodie joined The Mottram lab as a research trainee, after completing a BSc (Hons) and MSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Hull, with independent research projects including the investigation of T cell activation to bacterial superantigen (SAg) stimulation and the T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein activation. Primary research in the Mottram lab, together with Katrien Van Bocxlaer and Elmarie Myburgh, involves investigation of novel chemical entities for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis, in collaboration with the California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr) at the Scripps.