The Duncan lab is always interesting in hearing from you -
whether you would like to join the lab, visit or collaborate with us, please get in touch!
whether you would like to join the lab, visit or collaborate with us, please get in touch!
Current Group
PhD Students
- Artem Fetter PhD Student, 2023-2026 (EU MSCA DTN "MAGIC-MOLFUN" / UKRI funded)
- Marla Itzel Macias Contreras 2022-2025 PhD Student (CONACYT, Mexico International PhD Scholarship / Strathclyde Science Global Research Scholarship) An oceanographer by profession, Marla is interested in marine bacteria and new compounds with bioactive potential. Marla has a BSc, MSc and 6 years research experience in oceanography/marine biotechnology.
- Joey Stanley Undergraduate student, BSc (Hons) Biochemistry, 3rd year dissertation project 2025
- Lily Van Loock Undergraduate student, BSc (Hons) Pharmacology, 3rd year dissertation project 2025
- Joe Zhang Undergraduate student, MSci Biochemistry, 3rd and 4th year dissertation project 2025
Former PhD Students
- Dr Lily Riordan, PhD Student 2019-2023 (Strathclyde Doctoral School - Interdisciplinary Centre for Doctoral Training in Antimicrobial Resistances) Lily joined the Duncan group as a PhD student in October 2019. Lily graduated in 2016 with a BSc Biochemistry (Hons) from Aberystwyth University, before moving on to study a MSc in Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham. She then stayed at UoB as a research assistant, looking at novel technologies to combat the antimicrobial resistance problem. Following the completion of her PhD, Lily went to the University of Nottingham to do a postdoc on AMR.
- Dr Darren Scobie, PhD Student 2019-2022 (University of Strathclyde, Research Excellence Award) Darren joined the Duncan group as a PhD student in October 2019. Darren finished his BSc in Microbiology at the University of Strathclyde in 2019. He previously completed his undergraduate dissertation (2019) and a Microbiology Society Harry Smith Vacation Studentship (2018) in the Duncan group in rare actinomycete natural products. After completing a 2 year Postdoc in the Duncan lab, he joined industry (Celtic Renewables, as a Process Development Microbiologist).
- Dr Jonathan Parra, PhD Student 2018-2022 (Government of Costa Rica International PhD fellowship & University of Costa Rica) scholarship) Parra studied a Pharmacy Degree and a Masters Degree in Chemistry at the University of Costa Rica in the area of rainforest plant natural products chemistry. Jonathan joined the lab in July 2018 and will expand his knowledge of microbiology and microbial natural products using 'omics approaches. Since finishing his PhD, Parra has started his own research group in the area of actinomycete natural products at the University of Costa Rica and we still collaborate! You can find more about his chemical ecology group here https://parralab.netlify.app/
- Dr Alison Hughes, PhD Student 2017 - 2021 (Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre PhD Studentship & University of Strathclyde, Research Excellence Award) Ally joined the Duncan lab in October 2017 as an IbioIC / University of Strathclyde PhD student looking at the biotechnological potential of microalgal natural products (spending one year at Xanthella in Oban). Ally graduated in 2015 with a B.Sc (hons) from the National University of Ireland, Galway specialising in Chemistry. Following this, she worked as a research and teaching assistant at the University of South Florida with Prof. Bill J. Baker in the field of marine natural products chemistry. Ally is part of the Executive Team and the Project Manager https://sulsa.asulsa.ac.uk/sulsa-team/c.uk/sulsa-team/ at the Scottish University Life Science Alliance (SULSA) and is based in Glasgow!
- Dr Laia Castaño, PhD Student 2017 - 2021 (University of Strathclyde, Research Excellence Award) Laia joined the Duncan lab in October 2017 looking at the "chemical warfare of actinomycetes as keystone bacterial species for accelerated antibiotic discovery”. Laia is a native of Spain and graduated in 2017 with a B.Sc (hons) in Human Biology, specialising in Microbiology, at Edge Hill University, UK. On completing her PhD, Laia joined Centogene in Germany (Covid-19 testing). Laia now works in industry and is based in Germany!
Former Postdoctoral Research Associates & Visiting Fellows
- Dr Darren Scobie, Post Doctoral Research Associate 2021-2023 (UK Government DEFRA funded). Darren spent two years as a postdoc after completing his PhD in the Duncan lab (and prior to that a summer internship), he was almost part of the furniture :) Darren pioneered culturing actinomycetes form deep-sea sediment as part of a large collaborative grant involving the Natural History Museum in London, the National Oceanographic Centre in Southampton, the University of Aberdeen Biodiscovery Centre, the University of Southampton, the University of the South Pacific, Fiji and the Cook Islands Seabed Mineral Authority.
- Adedotun Adefolalu 2022. Adedotun is a lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry, Federal University Lafia, Nigeria. He worked there for seven years before joining the Marine Biodiscovery Centre, University of Aberdeen as a postgraduate researcher in 2022 on a TETFUND grant. He visited the Duncan lab in Strathclyde for a couple of weeks to hone skills in genome mining and investigate the genomics and bioactivity of microbial strains obtained from Nigerian lead mines.
- Dr Sam Williams, Visiting Fellow 2022 (Elizabeth Blackwell Institute Discovery Research Support funded). Sam joined the Duncan lab for a 2-week secondment in July 2022 to get to grips with metabologenomics and the NPlinker software. Following completion of his PhD in the Curnow lab (University of Bristol), Sam went on to do a post-doc on actinomycete natural products in Tilmann Webber's group at Denmark Technical University.
- Dr Alejandro Huerta-Uribe, Post Doctoral Research Associate 2018 (BBSRC Tools and Resources Development Fund (TRDF) funded. Alejandro joined the Duncan lab in November 2018 as a postdoctoral research associate on a BBSRC tools and research development grant. Alejandro obtained his B.Sc in Pharmaceutical and Biological Chemistry at the Michoacan University of Saint Nicholas of Hidalgo, Mexico. He then joined the Wellcome Trust 4-year PhD programme at the University of Glasgow, where he worked under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Roe exploring antivirulence based strategies to prevent Shiga toxin expression in enterohaemorrhagic E. coli. Alejandro now works as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Glasgow Cancer Institute.
- Dr Sylvia Soldatou, Postdoctoral Research Associate 2017 - 2018 (The Carnegie Trust funded). Sylvia joined the Duncan lab in October as a postdoctoral research associate (PDRA) on a Carnegie Trust Collaborative Research Grant funded project with the University of Glasgow. Sylvia has a B.Sc in Chemistry (University of Patras, Greece), a M.Sc. in Pharmacognosy (UCL, London) and a Ph.D. in Chemistry (National University of Ireland, Galway) under the supervision of Prof. Bill Baker. A year of her Ph.D was spent as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of South Florida, USA. Sylvia joined the University of Aberdeen Marine Biodiscovery Centre (Department of Chemistry) in June 2018 as a Postdoctoral Researcher.
- Dr Natalie Millan, Visiting Fellow 2016-2017 (Marine Alliance of Science and Technology Funded). Natalie joined the Duncan lab for two visits:
December 2016- January 2017 & June 2017 - August 2017. Following the completion of her PhD in Paul Jensen's lab (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD) in 2016 Natalie started at the Autonomous University of Baja California as an Assistant Professor. Her research is on marine microbiology, phylogenomics and marine natural products.
