Two Kavli Oxford Postdocs Awarded Wellcome Early Career Fellowships
Two Kavli Oxford Postdocs Awarded Wellcome Early Career Fellowships
We are delighted to announce that two of our talented postdoctoral researchers, Valeria Calvaresi and Emma Silvester, have been awarded the competitive Wellcome Early Career Fellowships. Their research, each funded by Wellcome for a five-year period, will push the boundaries of scientific discovery in virology and structural biology.
Valeria Calvaresi – Struwe Group
Valeria Calvaresi, from the Struwe Lab, has secured a Wellcome Early Career Fellowship with her project focused on advancing our understanding of the immune response to the Ebola virus. Starting in February 2025, her work aims to design therapeutic nanobodies by exploring antibody-mediated immunity against Ebola. Valeria’s approach involves creating an innovative biophysical platform combining hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) and mass photometry. Her method, applied on surfaces replicating the authentic virus, will provide new insights into immune responses with potential therapeutic applications.
Emma Silvester – Lindsay Baker’s Group
Emma Silvester, a postdoc in the Baker Lab, was awarded the Wellcome Early Career Fellowship in 2022 and began her project in June 2023. Her research, titled "Intracellular Tags for Electron Cryotomography: Using DNA Nanostructures as CryoEM's Equivalent of GFP," addresses a core challenge in electron cryotomography (cryoET): pinpointing specific molecules within cells. Building on her SPOTs technology—DNA nanostructures that tag proteins on membranes—Emma aims to create reconfigurable tags that offer both fluorescent and visual readouts, making it possible to identify and localise individual molecules within their native cellular environments. This toolkit promises to elevate cryoET’s capabilities and open new avenues in cellular imaging.
Congratulations to Valeria and Emma on this achievement!
