Lab Members

Associate Investigators

Huanhuan Li

Huanhuan joined our lab in 2021 after working as a postdoctoral researcher at FMI (Switzerland) for three years. Huanhuan has a background in Molecular and Cellular Biology and received her PhD from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. To learn about Huanhuan's work click here.

Chuanxin Chen

Chuanxin joined us in 2021 from Purdue University (USA) where he was a post-doc. Chuanxin has a background in Chemical Engineering and Technology from Zhejiang University. To find out about Chuanxin's work click here.

Post-docs/Assistant Investigators

Lulu Huang

Lulu completed her PhD at Peking University before joining our lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2025.

Yaoyu Chen

Yaoyu completed his PhD at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, before joining our lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2025.

Jinyi Wu

Jinyi joined our lab in September 2021 as a Computational Biologist. She holds a BSc in Science and Technology from Wuhan University and an MSc in Data Science from Imperial College London. She began her PhD in our lab in 2022, graduated in 2026, and is now a postdoctoral fellow in the lab. To find out about Jinyi's work click here.

Penglei Shen

Penglei joined our lab in 2026 as an Assistant Investigator.

Lab Manager/Personal Assistant

Xudan Peng

Xudan joined our lab in September 2022.

Research Assistants

Kaiyi Wu

Kaiyi joined our lab in March 2024. Kaiyi did her BSc at Southeast University (bioinformatics) and her Masters at Imperial College (Genes, Medicines and Stem Cells).

PhD students

(The Guangzhou Lab has protocols with Universities across China, and in our lab PhD students are affiliated with Double First Class Universities such as Sun Yat-sen)

Haiping Luo

Haiping joined our lab in November 2023 after completing her master’s degree at South China University of Technology. In 2025, she began her PhD studies in our lab.

Xinggu Wang

Xinggu joined our Lab in November 2022. Xinggu did her Masters at Imperial College. In 2024, Xinggu began her PhD studies in our lab.

Shaoqiang Ning

Shaoqiang joined our lab in July 2023. Shaoqiang did his Masters studies at Southern Medical University. In 2024, Shaoqiang

began his PhD studies in our lab.

Jiahui Huang

Jiahui joined our lab in July 2022 as a Research Assistant. She completed her BSc in Biotechnology at South China Normal University and earned her master’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Sun Yat-Sen University. In 2023, Jiahui began her PhD studies in our lab.

Wei Guan

Wei joined our lab in July 2022 as a Computational Biologist. Wei holds a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering from Jinan University and a master's degree in computational/developmental biology from Jinan/Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. In 2023, Wei began his PhD studies in our lab.

Litao Chang

Litao joined our lab in October 2021 as a Research Assistant. Litao holds a bachelor's degree in pharmacy from Jinan University and a master's degree in pharmacy from the National University of Singapore. In 2022, Litao began her PhD studies in our lab.

Zhilin Li

Zhilin joined our lab in September 2026 as a PhD student. Zhilin holds a bachelor's degree in Life Sciences from Yunnan University.

Binghao Zhang and Xuan Zhang are also completing their PhDs in our lab, having joined us from Professor Jean-Paul Thiery’s group during their final year.

Master students

Guang Wu

Guang Wu joined our lab in December 2025 and is enrolled in the Master’s programme at Guangzhou Medical University.

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Associate Investigators

Huanhuan
Li

Chuanxin Chen

Post-Docs & Assistant Investigators

Yaoyu
Chen

Lulu
Huang

Jinyi
Wu

Weixin Image_20260310090546_2_137 copy.jpg

Penglei
Shen

Lab Manager

Research Assistant

Xudan
Peng

Kaiyi Wu

PhD students

Haiping
Luo

Shaoqiang
Ning

Wei
Guan

Xinggu
Wang

Jiahui
Huang

Litao
Chang

Zhilin
Li

Visiting PhD students

Xuan
Zhang

Binghao
Zhang

Masters students

Guang
Wu

Former Lab Members

Senior Post-doc

Yael Costa

Yael studied Nanog mediated mechanisms (2009-2022). Yael was funded by her own BBSRC project grant. To see Yael's work click here.

Post-docs

Haiyong Zhao

Haiyong was an Assistant Investigator in our lab for 2 years (2024-2025). In January 2026 Haiyong moved into industry, where he began his professional career outside academia.

Mingyue Guo

Mingyue was a postdoc in our lab for 2 years (2021-2023). In 2023 Mingyue moved to West Lake University. To view Mingyue's work click here.

Chibeza Agley

Chibeza was a member of both the Silva and the Chalut labs between October 2013 and June 2017. In July 2017 he started full time in the company he had previously founded, CamBioScience. To learn more about Chibeza click here.

PhD Students

Lawrence Bates

Lawrence was a MRC funded PhD student. In 2022 Lawrence joined Professor Nichols's lab at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, University of Edinburgh as postdoctoral researcher. To view Lawrence's work click here.

Sergey Gladkov (Siarhei Hladkou)

Sergey was a Darwin Trust of Edinburgh funded PhD student (2019). Sergey moved to Sweden to become a postdoctoral researcher at Lund University.

Elsa Sousa

Elsa was a PhD student enrolled in the Graduate Program in the Areas of Basic and Applied Biology (GABBA) from the University of Porto, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal). In 2019 Elsa started a career in industry. To view Elsa's work click here.

Hannah Stuart

Hannah was a MRC funded PhD student. Hannah was awarded the prestigious Marie Curie and Sir Henry Wellcome postdoctoral fellowships when moving to Professors Elly Tanaka's lab and Nicola Elvassore's lab (joint post-doc) at the IMP (Vienna/Austria) and at University College London respectively. In 2025, Hannah became a group leader at the European Molecular Biology laboratory (EMBL). To view Hannah's work click here.

Kathryn Tremble

Katie was a Clinical School PhD program student. After PhD (2017) Katie went back to Medical School to complete her medical degree. To see Katies's work click here.

Aliaksandra Radzisheuskaya

Alex was a Darwin Trust of Edinburgh funded PhD student. Alex was awarded the prestigious EMBO and Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Fellowships when moving to Prof Kristian Helin’s lab at the Sloan Kettering Institute (USA) in 2014. In 2021, Aliaksandra established her own laboratory at the Institute of Cancer Research, London (UK). To see Alex's work click here.

Moyra Lawrence

Moyra was a Wellcome Trust-Stem Cell PhD Programme student. She moved to Dr Robert Schneider's laboratory in Strasbourg as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in 2014. To view Moyra's work click here.

Rodrigo Santos

Rodrigo was a PhD student enrolled in the PhD program in Experimental Biology and Biomedicine (PDBEB) from the University of Coimbra, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal). In 2014, Rodrigo moved into industry, where he began his professional career outside academia. To learn more about Rodrigo click here.

Anouk van Oosten

Anouk was a BBSRC funded PhD student. Anouk moved (2012) to the Netherlands to become a Clinical Research Associate. To view Anouk's work click here.

Thorold Theunissen

Thor was a Wellcome Trust-Stem Cell PhD Programme student. Thor was awarded the prestigious Sir Henry Wellcome postdoctoral fellowship (2012) when moving to Professor Rudolf Jaenisch lab at the Whitehead Institute, MIT, US. Thor is now a Principal Investigator at Washington University, US. To view Thor's work click here.

Ornella Barrandon

Ornella was a PhD student in the Silva Lab, co-supervised with Professor Austin Smith. In 2011 Ornella moved to Professor Douglas Melton lab, Harvard, USA for post-doc work. To see Ornella's work click here.

Master's Students

Aaron Sandoval

Aaron was a Marshall Scholarship Master's student. To view Aaron's work click here.

Tim Lohoff

Tim was an Erasmus funded Master's student. In 2016 Tim joined the Wellcome Trust - Stem Cell PhD Programme. To view Tim's work click here.

Mariana Alves

Mariana was an Erasmus funded Master's student. In 2017 Mariana joined Dr. Justin Crocker's lab at the EMBL in Heidelberg as a PhD student. To view Mariana's work click here.

Research Assistants

Kexin Wang

Kexin was a research assistant in our Lab (2022-2023). She moved in 2023 to Hangzhou to start a new position at West Lake University.

Imogen Stockwell

Imogen was a Research Assistant working with Yael and Lawrence (2019-2020). In October 2020 Imogen started MPhil studies in Biological Science at the Physiology, Development and Neuroscience department at the University of Cambridge.

Daniel Yamamoto

Daniel was a Research Assistant working with Lawrence (2019-2020). In 2020 he joined the Wellcome Trust-Stem Cell PhD Programme at the University of Cambridge.

Charlotte Handford

Charlotte was a Research Assistant working with Yael (2014-2017). After three years she joined the lab of Prof Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz to undertake PhD studies. To view Charlotte's work click here.

Other Research Assistants (less than 6 months)

TY So (2014) Hongkonger

Yuanshen Zhao (2023) Chinese

Lab Managers/Personal Assistants

Tan Xiao October 2020- December 2021 Chinese

Huang Li April 2022-July 2022 Chinese

Stem Cell - Wellcome Trust PhD Rotation Students

Andrew Malcom October-December 2017 Scottish

Sarah Förster April-June 2014 German

Loukia Yiangou January-March 2014 Cypriot

Anna Osnato October-December 2013 Italian

Elena Itskovich January-March 2013 Israeli

Moritz Matthey October-December 2012 German

Anzy Miller April-June 2012 English

Vicki Moignard April-June 2011 English

Moyra Lawrence January-March 2011 Irish

Ana Leal October-December 2010 Mexican

Robert Fordham October-December 2009 English

Thorold Theunissen April-June 2008 Dutch

Undergraduate Students

Zhilin LI November-March 2026 Chinese

Xiner He July-August 2019 Chinese

Adam Boxall January-March 2019 English

Imogen Stockwell June-July 2018 Australian

Anastasiya Malyshava May-July 2018 Belarusian

Bryce Lim January-March 2018 Singaporean

Carolyn Rodgers January-March 2017 English

Katsiaryna Maskalenka June-July 2016 Belarusian

Aran Shaunak June-July 2015 English

Joachim Hanna January-March 2016 Swiss

Petros Fessas January-March 2016 Greek

Rebecca Lloyd January-March 2015 English

Alicia Caunter January-March 2015 English

Saeed Kayhanian July-August 2014 Welsh

Mariana Alves July-August 2014 Portuguese

Jia Yi Fong January-March 2014 Singaporean

James Patterson January-March 2013 English

Hannah Stuart January-March 2012 English

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