Meet the Team

Dr Simon Moore - Lecturer in Synthetic Biology

Dr Simon Moore began as a PhD student with Prof Martin Warren (University of Kent), working on tetrapyrrole natural product biosynthesis, the so-called “pigments of life”. Dr Moore elucidated the anaerobic biosynthesis of vitamin B12 and coenzyme F430. In 2013, he joined Imperial College London with Prof Paul Freemont and Prof Karen Polizzi to study the rising field of synthetic biology. During this time, he learned about cell-free systems. Then, in 2017 he began an independent fellowship (Wellcome Trust ISSF) to study Streptomyces natural products, where he developed the Streptomyces TX-TL system. In 2018, Simon started as a lecturer at Kent, before joining Queen Mary University of London in Jan 2023. He works within the newly emerging synthetic biology for natural products field.

Dr Lewis Tanner - PDRA

My work involves designing and generating synthetic gene circuits and performing cell-free gene expression. I have also generated CRISPR-Cas9-based gene-edited Streptomyces strains and will use them to monitor the expression of antibiotic-producing gene clusters under different conditions and to identify the regulators of gene expression.

Miss Kameshwari Chengan - PhD student

While pursuing a BSc in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Kent, I joined the Moore lab in 2019 for my final year project and worked on the isolation of DNA-targeting natural products in Streptomyces. Following that, I spent a year working in Mauritius, my home country, on science backed remedies in ethnomedicine. I then returned to the Moore lab in 2020 for a PhD project funded by the Global Challenges Doctoral Centre at Kent. During my PhD, I used the technology of cell-free gene expression to develop low-cost and robust screening platforms to investigate antibiotic action and resistance mechanisms. This brought together the exciting research areas of antimicrobial resistance, natural product, and engineering biology in non-model organisms. In 2023, I joined Queen Mary University of London as visiting student to complete my PhD in the Moore lab.  

Outside of the lab, I enjoy travelling, cooking, Indian classical dance, and board games. 

Miss Charlotte Wooley - PhD student

Miss Alex Butulan - PhD student

I have completed an integrated MSci degree in Chemistry with Biomedicine at King's College London. During my Master's project under the supervision of Dr. Sarah Barry, I investigated the possibility of improving the bacterial production of rufomycins through pathway engineering.


Currently, my LIDo iCASE PhD project (in collaboration with Syngenta) focuses on using cell-free synthetic biology to discover and produce novel antifungal peptides which can be utilised to fight plant pathogens.


In my spare time, I enjoy learning about speciality coffee and being outdoors. 

Miss Daniel Wong - MSc Biomedical Science

Kent alumni

Mr Harry Meades - MSc Microbiology (2022)

Mr Thomas Chinnery - Research Technician (2022)

Mr Kyle Preston - MSc in Biotechnology and Bioengineering  (2022)

Mr Guy Griffin - Summer student funded by the Eric Reid fund, Biochemical Society (2022)

Mr Erick Gomes Oliviera - PhD Microbiology BBSRC SoCoBio (2022)

Dr Lakshmeesha K Nagappa - Leverhulme Trust PDRA (2021)

Miss Tanith Hanson - MSc Infectious Diseases (2021)

Miss Eleanor Harriss - MSc Business and Biotechnology (2021)

Mr Josh Harman - MSc Microbiology (2020)

Mr Quentin Daigle - MSc Biotechnology and Bioengineering (2020)

Dr Sarah Blackburn - Research assistant, Wellcome Trust (2019)

Miss Maria Ignatyeva - MSc Biotechnology and Bioengineering (2020)

Miss Agata Kennedy - Research Assistant (2019)

Mr Seth Coode - MSc Biochemistry (2019)

Mr Samuel Jones - MSc Biochemistry (2019)

Miss Katie Latham - Stacey Fund summer student (2019)


Imperial College London alumni

Dr Hung-En Lai - PhD Biochemistry (2016-2019)

Miss Hajel Mistry - MSc Applied Biosciences & Biotechnology (2018)

Miss Asha Adde - MRes Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (2018)

Mr Alexander Duggan - MRes Systems and Synthetic Biology (2017)

Miss Hannah Needham - MSc Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (2017)