People

The Lab

Our work aims at identifying signalling pathways which are specifically activated by tumour-, but not normal cells in their microenvironment (TME). For this, we employ 2D and 3D-co-culture systems, high resolution microscopy, in vivo models (GEMMs) and single cell resolution -omics to decipher the cross talk between malignant cells and cells of the TME. We predominantly focus on B cell lymphoma to untangle these interactions and to identify mechanisms driving disease progression and drug resistance.

A particular focus of our work is to understand plasticity of these interactions driven by clonal tumour cell evolution. With this knowledge we aim to improve cancer therapies by specifically targeting tumour-activated stroma cells.

Ingo Ringshausen

Group leader

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After studying medicine in Mainz, Germany and London, Ontario, Canada, Ingo was trained as a clinician scientist at the Technical University in Munich, Germany (1999-2010). In 2003 he joined the group of Professor Gerard Evan at the University of California, San Francisco (USA), studying TP53 regulation in GEMMs. In 2006 he returned to Munich and set up his own research group at the Technical University.

In 2013 he was awarded a Cancer Research UK (CRUK) senior fellowship and subsequently moved to the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute & Department of Haematology in Cambridge, UK. In 2023 he became a member of the UCL faculty, and the laboratory moved to London in May 2024. Outside of work, Ingo enjoys doing sports, cooking and traveling.

Dr. Andrew Moore

Senior researcher

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Andrew is a Senior Research Fellow in Ingo’s Lab. Andrew has a first-class degree in Biological Sciences from the University of East Anglia and a PhD from the William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London. Having joined Ingo’s laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 2014, following his PhD, Andrew also assisted in setting up and running the academic laboratory.

Andrew managed several research projects and achieved a co-first authorship and authorships in several research publications. Andrew joined Ingo in co-founding Stroma Biosciences Ltd, a University Spin Out Company, from their research whereby he was the CTO and an appointed Director. Andrew has since rejoined the lab as a Senior Research Fellow at University College London.

Dr. Natasha Aley

Postdoc

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Prior to starting her PhD, Natasha worked in Prof. Sebastian Brandner laboratory at UCL’s Institute of Neurology as a research assistant. For those 2.5 years she studied primary glioblastoma samples, which supported 4 exciting publications. For her PhD, she worked under the supervision of Prof. Robin Ketteler at UCL’s Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology. Her project was on autophagy inhibition in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which involved investigating cell signalling, 3D models and drug screening. Her work led to her being awarded the Young Investigator award and Best Speaker award at the 39th Winter School on Proteinases and Their Inhibitors. Since completing her PhD in 2023, Natasha has worked with Ingo as a Research Fellow at both the University of Cambridge – Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and the UCL Cancer Institute.

Dr. Dominika Sosnowska

Postdoc

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Dominika joined Ingo’s group at UCL in May 2024 and her work is focused on using bone marrow organoids as 3D in vitro models to investigate how cancer cells and bone marrow stroma interact. Her research aims to unravel what triggers tumour microenvironment remodelling and how it contributes to environment-mediated drug resistance.

Before joining, she completed her PhD at King’s College London under the supervision of Prof. James Arnold. Her doctoral research focused on heme oxygenase-1 and its role in modulating the tumour microenvironment, with the aim of developing it as a novel target for immunotherapy. After completing her PhD, Dominika joined Prof. Jacqui Shields’ lab at KCL as a postdoc, where she investigated a novel therapeutic modality aiming to reprogram the tumour immune microenvironment in breast cancer.

Dr. Livia Lisi-Vega

Postdoc

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Livia is a Research Fellow in the lab, where she focuses on tumour-stroma interactions in B cell malignancies. She completed her PhD in Cancer Biology at the University of Cambridge, where she worked under the supervision of Prof. Méndez-Ferrer on a novel type of metabolic crosstalk between bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells.

Livia holds a First-Class Honours Degree in Biomedical Sciences from University College London (UCL). During her undergraduate, Livia also had the opportunity to contribute to a variety of lab projects (ranging from basic cell biology to molecular oncology) in several leading institutions across Europe, including the Francis Crick Institute, ICR, and the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO).

Outside of work, Livia enjoys playing the violin and spending time outdoors—rowing, running, and cycling (whenever British weather allows).

Mr. Maciek Macuiszek

Research assistant

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Maciej has recently joined our group as a research assistant. Before that, as an integrated master’s student in biochemistry in Oxford, and later as a research assistant, he was investigating the role of PNUTS and PAF1 for the regulation of mammalian core transcription. Having internship experience with translational research in Higgins Lab interested in structural biology in malaria vaccine development, and in Elkabets Lab investigating head and neck cancer therapies, Maciej became a part of our group to further explore translation-oriented research.

Mrs. Franceska Ozola

PhD student

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Franceska studied Cancer Biology and Immunology at the University of Bristol for her undergraduate degree. She then completed an MRes in Cell Biology at UCL, working on a joint project between Prof. Sandip Patel’s and Dr. Eric Lambie’s labs, which focused on lysosomal calcium channels using C. elegans as a model organism. Franceska was awarded a highly competitive studentship from the CRUK City of London programme and joined our group in September 2024. Her PhD research focuses on investigating tumour-induced remodelling of the vascular niche.

Alumni

Dr. Matt Timmins (PhD student) – 2021-2024
Dr. Maurizio Mangolini (Postdoctoral fellow) – 2015-2022
Dr. Antonella Santoro (PhD student) – 2018-2021
Dr. Jingyu Chen (Postdoctoral fellow) – 2016 – 2022
Dr. Eugene Park (PhD student/ postdoctoral fellow)- 2016-2021
Dr. Aishwarya Sundaresh (Postdoctoral fellow) – 2015-2016
Dr. Vijitha Sashikaneen (PhD student) – 2015-2019
Dr. Frederik Götte (MD-student) – 2009 – 2012
Dr. Constanze Weber (PhD student) – 2008-2012
Dr. Viola Biberacher (MD-student) – 2008 – 2011
Dr. Gloria Lutzny (postdoctoral fellow) – 2008 – 2013
Dr. Benedikt Lampl (MD-student) – 2007 – 2010
Mrs. Madlen Oelsner (Research Assistant) – 2006 – 2013
Mrs. Michaela Wagner (Research Assistant) – 2006- 2011