(The lab in June 2025)
(The lab in June 2022)
(The lab in Nov 2019 – missing Atreyee)
CURRENT MEMBERS
Karrera Djoko (PI) – [CV]
Karrera completed a BS in Chemistry at PennState University (USA) in 2004 and went on to obtain a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Melbourne and Bio21 Institute (Australia) in 2009. After a long (8.5 years!) postdoctoral period at the University of Queensland and Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre (Australia), including a brief stint as a visiting fellow at Emory University (USA) in 2015, Karrera moved to Durham University (UK) in 2017 to establish her own research group.
Safa Chogule (PhD)
Safa is funded by the BBSRC Newcastle-Liverpool-Durham Doctoral Training Partnership. In her project, Safa is investigating how metals can influence interspecies interactions between oral Streptococcus and oral Neisseria.
Archie Howell (PhD)
Archie studies novel mechanisms of copper uptake and homeostasis in oral Neisseria species. His PhD is funded by a Janet Stevens Legacy Studentship.
William Earl (PhD)
Will is funded by an EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award. His project aims to reveal the fundamental biochemical principles of copper trafficking and homeostasis in the bacterial periplasm.
Elizabeth Kalusova (MRes)
Lizzi is studying the fundamental biochemical principles of copper trafficking between two copper-binding proteins in pathogenic Neisseria.
You!
Join us! Talk to Karrera about possible MBiol, MSci, and MRes projects at Durham University. Students interested in using chemical and biochemical approaches to solve puzzles in microbiology and infectious diseases are particularly encouraged to contact us. Opportunities for PhD studentships will be advertised as they become available.
PAST MEMBERS
PDRA
Dr Louisa Stewart (2021)
Louisa was funded by a Wellcome Trust Seed Award. She examined the role of human salivary, metal-binding, antimicrobial peptides in nutritional immunity and in host-microbe interactions. Upon leaving the group, Louisa went on to a position as a Research Manager at Quotient Sciences.
PhD students
Dr Jack Bolton (2024)
Jack was funded by the BBSRC Newcastle-Liverpool-Durham Doctoral Training Partnership. He studied the role of Cu-dependent enzymes in denitrification and microaerobic respiration by pathogenic Neisseria. Upon completing his PhD, Jack joined the Biology Faculty at Sterling College, USA.
Dr Sam Firth (2023)
Sam was funded by the BBSRC Newcastle-Liverpool-Durham Doctoral Training Partnership. She studied trafficking of nutrient Cu in the periplasm of pathogenic Neisseria. Upon graduation, Sam joined the Centre for Programmable Biological Matter as a PDRA to work on gyrases.
Dr Atreyee Mishra (2022)
Atreyee was funded by Durham University Global Challenges Centre for Doctoral Training and supervised by Dr. James Walton (Durham Chemistry). Atreyee designed and synthesises copper complexes, and studied their potential as antimicrobial resistance breakers. Atreyee went on to a Research Scientist position at FMC Corporation in her home country, India.
MRes students
Ben Kelly (2024)
Ben studied the structure of the Cu-dependent nitrite reductase from pathogenic Neisseria. After completing his MRes project, Ben joined Dr Liz Morris’ lab as a BBSRC-funded PhD student.
John Richards (2023)
John studied Cu loading into the Cu-dependent nitrite reductase from pathogenic Neisseria.
Jin Hong (2022)
Jin joined the lab as a Level 3 undergraduate Research Project student. She studied periplasmic Cu trafficking in pathogenic Neisseria. Jin returned as a Masters of Science (by Research) student and examined metal binding by human salivary metal-binding peptides and by metal-binding uptake proteins from Streptococcus.
Undergraduate students
Maya Basran (2025)
Maya was a Level 3 undergraduate Research Project student. She examined the Cu-binding properties of a variant Cu-dependent nitrite reductase from pathogenic Neisseria.
Jonas Flohr (2025)
Jonas joined the lab as a 6-week summer research placement student, funded by a Applied Microbiology International Summer Studentship. He returned to the lab as a 5-week Level 3 undergraduate Research Project student. During his time with the lab, Jonas established approaches to study the effects of metal ions on synthetic bacterial communities.
Martha Simmonds (2024)
Martha was a Level 3 undergraduate Research Project student. She established the identity of a mysterious bacterium in our collection of oral isolates.
Oscar Goodwill (2024)
Oscar was supported by a Durham Biosciences Summer Studentship. He examined the oligiomeric state of the Cu-dependent nitrite reductase from pathogenic Neisseria. Oscar’s next adventure is an MRes in Immunology at Oxford University.
Gemma Luscombe (2024)
Gemma joined the lab as a Natural Sciences Level 4 Research Project student. She examined Cu binding by salivary histatin peptides.
Beth Kinniment-Williams (2023)
Beth joined the lab as a Natural Sciences Level 4 Research Project student. She examined Cu binding by salivary histatin peptides. Upon graduation, Beth went on to a PhD in Medical Sciences position at The University of York.
Charlotte O’Hern (2022)
Lotte was a Natural Sciences Level 4 Research Project student in the lab. She examined Cu binding by a periplasmic cuproprotein from pathogenic Neisseria. Lotte received the Natural Sciences MSci Outstanding Achievement Award for graduating top of her cohort. She moved on to a Research Assistant position at Kings College London.
Alex Sutherland, Sacha Lee, Selina Chen (2021)
Alex, Sacha, and Selina were all Level 3 Research Project students in the lab. Alex and Sacha studied potential synergistic effects between metal ions and antibiotics, while Selina used bioinformatics to examine the distribution of Cu-handling genes in Neisseria species.
Isabel Holmes (2021)
Issy was a Natural Sciences Level 4 Research Project student in the lab. Issy examined Cu and Zn binding by human salivary metal-binding peptides. Upon graduation, she secured employment at Cytocell Ltd as a Research Assistant, followed by a PhD studentship at The Francis Crick Institute.
Daniel Owen (2019)
Daniel was funded by a Microbiology Society Harry Smith Vacation Studentship. He examined periplasmic Cu trafficking in pathogenic Neisseria. Upon completion of his summer project, Daniel went on to complete the final year of his degree at Durham.
Rebecca Chiu (2017)
Rebecca was a Biology undergraduate and a Level 3 Research Project student in the lab. She investigated sources of endogenous formaldehyde production in Escherichia coli. Rebecca went on to complete a Master’s in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, USA.
Djoko Lab 