Spotlight on Alice Ren

Alice graduated with a first-class BSc in Biochemistry from King’s College London, where she used single-particle cryo-EM to investigate the roles of actin-associated proteins in plant cells. She also completed a 12-month placement at The Francis Crick Institute, where she worked on autism-associated genes and social behaviour in Drosophila larvae. Having developed a strong interest in both neuroscience and structural biology, Alice joined our lab to help establish an antibody-based gold nanoparticle labelling system for cryo-ET of neuronal targets implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. The aim is to track their precise localisation and interactions in situ in experimental models of neurodegeneration.

News posts

Blog
Public outreach starts with your friends
Outreach
Public outreach starts with your friends
Outreach

It is always lovely to discover that your friends are genuinely interested in what you spend so much of your life doing :-)

Read more →
Outreach
Polina Ivanova's internship: One month, full speed ahead
Polina, Tom, iGEM, Training, Mentoring
Polina Ivanova's internship: One month, full speed ahead
Polina, Tom, iGEM, Training, Mentoring

It was great to see how naturally Polina took ownership of her work in such a short time

Read more →
Polina, Tom, iGEM, Training, Mentoring
Farewell to our 2025/26 Master’s cohort
Jayme, Lenka, Atiyeh
Farewell to our 2025/26 Master’s cohort
Jayme, Lenka, Atiyeh

They all did extremely well, earning Distinctions for their degrees

Read more →
Jayme, Lenka, Atiyeh
A Brilliant Card from Jayme
Jayme
A Brilliant Card from Jayme
Jayme

I adore this thank you card from my student who successfully tackled structural biology of ex vivo (brain-derived) prions

Read more →
Jayme
iGEM Mini Jamboree at Imperial
iGEM, Mentoring, Outreach, Education
iGEM Mini Jamboree at Imperial
iGEM, Mentoring, Outreach, Education

What an honour to be PI for the 2026 Imperial iGEM team!

Read more →
iGEM, Mentoring, Outreach, Education
From Poland to Imperial: Marta and Lena's Summer Research Visit
Tom, Debu, iGEM, Mentoring, Education
From Poland to Imperial: Marta and Lena's Summer Research Visit
Tom, Debu, iGEM, Mentoring, Education

Their individual interests shaped their experience of the visit in different ways

Read more →
Tom, Debu, iGEM, Mentoring, Education
From Molecules to Cells: EM Innovations in Life Sciences at the Crick
Lenka
From Molecules to Cells: EM Innovations in Life Sciences at the Crick
Lenka

A day of EM, old friends and new discoveries

Read more →
Lenka
Ellie's talk that kept me from getting any work done
Ellie, CJDF
Ellie's talk that kept me from getting any work done
Ellie, CJDF

Seeing the Unseen and seeing Ellie taking the stage in Chicago

Read more →
Ellie, CJDF
A fantastic article by Tom for Beyond the Fold
Tom
A fantastic article by Tom for Beyond the Fold
Tom

Synthetic neurodegenerative agents: The case of strain 1B

Read more →
Tom
Imperial iGEM 2026 - we're in with reGELerate!
iGEM, Mentoring
Imperial iGEM 2026 - we're in with reGELerate!
iGEM, Mentoring

Proud to support Imperial iGEM ‘26 team

Read more →
iGEM, Mentoring

Contact Polina