Core Team
Our core team is made up of academics from both Bristol and Oxford University. They are supported by two administration teams, one based at each University
Professor Lucia Marucci
Lucia moved to Bristol in 2013, after studying Mathematics and a PhD in Automatic Engineering at the Univeristy of Naples. Lucia is currently an Associated Professor in Systems and Synthetic Biology, and an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Fellow. She co-directs the Bristol BioDesign Institute, a specialised research institute in Synthetic Biology.
Lucia is the Co-Director of the EngBio CDT with Bob. Lucia is based in Bristol.
Professor Robert (Bob) Carlisle
Bob completed a BSc in Biochemistry, an MSc in Toxicology, and a PhD in Gene Delivery at Birmingham University. After this, he worked for 8 years within the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and the Department of Oncology at the University of Oxford. In 2012, he became a member of the Engineering Science Faculty.
The majority of Bob’s work has been concerned with achieving systemic delivery of anti-cancer agents for the treatment of metastatic cancer. This has included the development and testing of novel nano-scale non-viral and viral gene delivery systems and liposomal agents for the delivery of conventional chemotheraputics.
Bob is the Co-Director of the EngBio CDT with Lucia. Bob is based in Oxford.
Professor Thomas Gorochowski
Thomas is a Professor of Biological Engineering and Royal Society University Research Fellow based in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol. His lab aims to better understand the computational architecture of living systems to enable their effective reprogramming as a basis for applications spanning adaptive living materials to cellular computers.
At the EngBio CDT, Thomas is the EngBio CDT’s Deputy Director and Project Lead based in Bristol.
Professor Antonis Papachristodoulou
Antonis joined the University of Oxford in 2006, where he is currently the University’s Statutory Professor in Control Engineering and a Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford. Prior to joining Oxford, Antonis obtained an MA/MEng in Electrical and Information Sciences from the University of Cambridge, before completing a PhD in Control and Dynamical Systems at the California Institute of Technology, with a PhD minor in Aeronautics.
Antonis is the EngBio CDT’s Co-Director and Teaching Lead based at Oxford.
Dr Jessica Cross
Jessica gained a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Chemical Synthesis from the University of Bristol. After her PhD, Jess did post-doctoral research in the School of Bristol at the University of Bristol working with Professor Dek Woolfson and took up a Doctoral Prize Fellowship as a Senior Research Associate in the School of Biochemistry in Bristol working with Professor Mark Dodding. She is now a lecturer in Engineering Biology and joined the CDT in January 2025.
Jess is based in Bristol.
Dr Jean-Baptiste Lugagne
Jean-Baptiste is a Departmental Lecturer in the Department of Engineering, based in Oxford. His research explores the development of cell-machine interfaces to precisely control and optimise biological processes for Engineering Biology applications.
He holds a Master’s degree in Signal Processing Engineering and earned his PhD in Synthetic Biology from Université Sorbonne Paris Cité. Following his doctoral studies, he conducted postdoctoral research at Boston University, where he focused on high-throughput single-cell control of gene expression. He joined the Engineering Department and the Engineering Biology CDT in December 2024.
Jean-Baptiste is based in Oxford.
Professor Imre Berger
Imre is a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Bristol. He studied Biochemistry at Leibniz University and Medical School (MHH) in Hannover, and at MIT in Cambridge, USA. Imre carried out his PhD work in molecular biology and X-ray crystallography with Professor Alexander Rich at MIT’s Laboratory of Molecular Structure.
Imre moved to Bristol in 2014. He is the CDT’s Co-Investigator and Research Culture Lead at Bristol.
Professor Malavika Nair
Malavika is an Associate Professor in Biomaterials at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford. Malavika is a materials scientist by training, obtaining a BA, MSci in Natural Sciences and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Malavika’s doctoral work was focused on the multiscale characterisation of ice, collagen, and ice-templated collagen scaffolds for tissue engineering.
In 2022, Malavika moved to Oxford to expand the work on elevtroactive biomaterials for use in bio-simulation, bio-sensing, and drug delivery. Malavika is the EngBio CDT’s Co-Investigator and Research Culture Lead at Oxford.
Professor Jennifer McManus
Jennifer completed her BSc and PhD degrees in Chemistry at University College Dublin working on the assembly and structure of non-cytotoxic DNA – lipid complexes for use in non-viral gene delivery. Following her PhD, Jennifer became interested in protein phase diagrams and protein assembly as postdoctoral researcher in Switzerland and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the group of Prof. George Benedek. After almost 4 years in the US, she returned to Maynooth University in Ireland as a Science Foundation Ireland Stokes Lecturer where she established a research group in Soft Matter and Biophysical chemistry. Jennifer was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016 and served as Head of Department from 2017 to 2020. She joined the School of Physics at the University of Bristol in 2020.
Jennifer is the EngBio CDT’s CO-Investigator and EDI Champion based in Bristol.
Dr Jonathan (Jon) Bath
Jon is an academic researcher based at the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford. His research interest is in molecular machines using DNA as a construction material.
Jon is the EngBio CDT’s Co-Investigator and EDI Champion and is based at Oxford.
EPSRC & BBSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Engineering Biology (EngBio CDT)
University of Bristol
School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology
Tankard’s Close
Bristol, BS8 1TW
University of Oxford
Department of Engineering Science, Botnar Research Centre, Old Road, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7LD
