Meet the team

Dr Ryan West

Group Leader

Ryan is an Alzheimer's Society Dementia Research Leader Fellow, Senior Fellow and group leader at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN). He moved to Sheffield in November 2019 following his time as a Junior fellow at the University of Manchester. Prior to that he was a postdoc and PhD student at the University of York.

Postdoctoral Research Associates

Dr Joanne Sharpe

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Jo is using Drosophila to explore gene-environment interactions identified from human whole genome sequencing data in sporadic ALS

Dr Ruth Thomas

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Ruth is currently working on an Alzheimer's Society funded project combining Drosophila models and patient-derived cell models to explore mechanisms Underpinning Disease Heterogeneity in C9Orf72-related Frontotemporal Dementia

Dr Jasmine Speranza

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Jasmine is using Drosophila and patient-derived cell models to explore the role of the integrated stress response in C9Orf72-related Frontotemporal Dementia

Dr Sam Bonsall

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Sam is using bioinformatics to explore gene-gene and gene-environment interactions in sporadic ALS

PhD Students

Charlotte Gale

PhD Student 2022 - present

Charlotte's research, funded by the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) is looking at how disease causing C9orf72 mutations lead to disruption of neuronal cytoskeleton and axonal trafficking

Ergita Balli

PhD Student 2023 - present

Ergita's research, funded by the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA), is looking at how disease causing mutations impair hypoxic response pathways and the implication this has on motor neurone disease.

Abbie Stretch

PhD Student 2023 - present

Abbie is an MRC DiMeN student. She is investigating whether prodromal alterations in vision can be used as a biomarker for Parkinson's disease and how we can utilise Drosophila models for translational drug-discovery research