Current lab members
(our elite, small, but perfectly-formed team)
(our elite, small, but perfectly-formed team)
The Evans Lab at the IICD Christmas ramble/lunch (2018)
L-R Elliot, Emma, Eva, Olivier, Amy
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hungry hemocytes eating dying cells - a fine movie from Olivier
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Iwan Evans
Research Fellow in the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease
Research Fellow in the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease
How I like to view myself
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Me with Dr. Lisa Parker
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Investigating blood cell function using flies... Drosophila hemocytes as the pac-men of the embryo
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After studying Biochemistry at the University of Oxford (Somerville College), I joined the MRC’s 4-year PhD program in Molecular Cell Biology at UCL’s LMCB. During my PhD I studied the generation of cell-cell repulsion downstream of the Eph receptor family of tyrosine kinases with Prof. Kate Nobes and also worked with Dr. Stephen Nurrish and Prof. Anne Ridley. To study the regulation of cell migration in vivo, I took up a post-doctoral position with Prof. Will Wood at the University of Bath in 2007. There I investigated how the migration and inflammatory responses of macrophages are controlled using the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model system.
In 2013, I was awarded a Thomas-Berry and Simpson Fellowship by the Medical School at the University of Sheffield to establish my own research group focusing on the role apoptotic cells play in regulation of macrophage function. Soon after I was awarded a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship from Wellcome/The Royal Society. At the end of my fellowship I was awarded a Lectureship in the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease (IICD) at the University of Sheffield. In addition to using fruit flies in our research we have branched out to translate our findings into vertebrate systems through collaborations with Dr. Lynne Prince, Dr. Heather Wilson, Prof. Endre Kiss-Toth and Prof. Albert Ong. My lab is part of the Bateson Centre, a research grouping that focuses on Development and Disease, predominantly using genetically-tractable model organisms to investigate the links and synergies between these two areas. We are also part of the Healthy Lifespan Institute (Helsi).
In addition running my own research lab, I supervise several PhD students and host undergraduate, masters and placement students. I am Deputy Lead for the in vivo and in vitro research methods and human molecular genetics modules on the Molecular Medicine masters course in the Medical School and module lead for the research project component of the Cardiovascular Biology MRes. I served on the Early Career Researcher Group as Departmental Champion for IICD (2016-2020) and the Medical School Research Day Committee (2018-2022). I have also been Fellows Rep for IICD and co-led the FAB Network (Fellowships and Beyond Network), a peer-support and researcher development grouping launched in September 2019. I am also a mentor on the University of Sheffield's mentoring programme and have twice been recognised as an "outstanding and dedicated mentor". I directed and chaired the ECR Prize Panel for the University of Sheffield 2018-2020. I am currently PGR lead for IICD.
In between running my own lab (and doing experiments), I am a proud father of three lovely children and still occasionally make it out onto the football field for my football team, Dronfield Town FC. I am also manager of Ecclesall Rangers Under 11's Football Team, which takes up a lot of my spare time, but is one of the most enjoyable jobs I have been able to do!
Ps Find me on Twitter as @delaevanio (WARNING - I also post a lot about football, music, politics and other stuff - my own opinion's and not those of The University of Sheffield)
In 2013, I was awarded a Thomas-Berry and Simpson Fellowship by the Medical School at the University of Sheffield to establish my own research group focusing on the role apoptotic cells play in regulation of macrophage function. Soon after I was awarded a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship from Wellcome/The Royal Society. At the end of my fellowship I was awarded a Lectureship in the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease (IICD) at the University of Sheffield. In addition to using fruit flies in our research we have branched out to translate our findings into vertebrate systems through collaborations with Dr. Lynne Prince, Dr. Heather Wilson, Prof. Endre Kiss-Toth and Prof. Albert Ong. My lab is part of the Bateson Centre, a research grouping that focuses on Development and Disease, predominantly using genetically-tractable model organisms to investigate the links and synergies between these two areas. We are also part of the Healthy Lifespan Institute (Helsi).
In addition running my own research lab, I supervise several PhD students and host undergraduate, masters and placement students. I am Deputy Lead for the in vivo and in vitro research methods and human molecular genetics modules on the Molecular Medicine masters course in the Medical School and module lead for the research project component of the Cardiovascular Biology MRes. I served on the Early Career Researcher Group as Departmental Champion for IICD (2016-2020) and the Medical School Research Day Committee (2018-2022). I have also been Fellows Rep for IICD and co-led the FAB Network (Fellowships and Beyond Network), a peer-support and researcher development grouping launched in September 2019. I am also a mentor on the University of Sheffield's mentoring programme and have twice been recognised as an "outstanding and dedicated mentor". I directed and chaired the ECR Prize Panel for the University of Sheffield 2018-2020. I am currently PGR lead for IICD.
In between running my own lab (and doing experiments), I am a proud father of three lovely children and still occasionally make it out onto the football field for my football team, Dronfield Town FC. I am also manager of Ecclesall Rangers Under 11's Football Team, which takes up a lot of my spare time, but is one of the most enjoyable jobs I have been able to do!
Ps Find me on Twitter as @delaevanio (WARNING - I also post a lot about football, music, politics and other stuff - my own opinion's and not those of The University of Sheffield)
Current lab members - left to right: Katie, Dan and Emma
Dan Hayman
Research Assistant - Sep 2022 to current
Dan joined us from Newcastle and has completed his PhD, being viva'd shortly after starting his new role. In Newcastle, he studied musculoskeletal ageing using mouse models. Here he is employed as an RA on our Dunhill Medical Trust Seed Award with Mirre Simons and is looking at macrophage heterogeneity and ageing processes. In his spare time Dan is a keen tennis player and choral singer.
Katie Roome
MRC DiMeN PhD student - Oct 2022 to current
Katie is an MRC DiMeN PhD student and joined us from Sitran at the University of Sheffield. She is co-supervised by Mirre Simons and is looking at how macrophage subpopulations are regulated and contribute to ageing processes and the decline of immunity during ageing.
Emma Bristow
MBB final year masters student - Sep 2022 to current
Emma will be with us for a year and will be looking at how macrophage lineages re-emerge in pupal stages and how that relates to their localisation. After her degree, Emma will be departing these shores to study for a PhD in the Netherlands.
Research Assistant - Sep 2022 to current
Dan joined us from Newcastle and has completed his PhD, being viva'd shortly after starting his new role. In Newcastle, he studied musculoskeletal ageing using mouse models. Here he is employed as an RA on our Dunhill Medical Trust Seed Award with Mirre Simons and is looking at macrophage heterogeneity and ageing processes. In his spare time Dan is a keen tennis player and choral singer.
Katie Roome
MRC DiMeN PhD student - Oct 2022 to current
Katie is an MRC DiMeN PhD student and joined us from Sitran at the University of Sheffield. She is co-supervised by Mirre Simons and is looking at how macrophage subpopulations are regulated and contribute to ageing processes and the decline of immunity during ageing.
Emma Bristow
MBB final year masters student - Sep 2022 to current
Emma will be with us for a year and will be looking at how macrophage lineages re-emerge in pupal stages and how that relates to their localisation. After her degree, Emma will be departing these shores to study for a PhD in the Netherlands.
Former lab members
gone, but not forgotten!
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Elliot Brooks
MRC Dimen PhD student in Evans Lab, IICD Second Supervisor = Prof. Albert Ong (2018-2022) Elliot joined us in October 2018 to work on a joint project with Albert Ong in the Medical School. He used human kidney cells and flies to understand how pathogenic mutations in the human disease gene PKD2 (or amo in flies) can lead to autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Elliot secured himself a prestigious MRC Dimen studentship and spent quite a bit of time running backwards and forth between the Medical School and Firth Court! Elliot completed his studies in 2022. Elliot has outstanding taste in music (very similar to Iwan's), is a big Norwich City fan and is a Nintendo nerd (3rd best Nintendo gamer in Norwich 2009). Find Elliot on Twitter as @ECBrooks92. Elliot will shortly be starting a PDRA role in Australia, remaining with the fly to study Hippo signalling in growth control. |
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Harriet Mitchell and Jack Hatton
MBChB students 2022
Harriet and Jack joined us for the SSC projects and worked on developing a model for Asxl-related developmental delay in the fly and orphan nuclear receptors and their regulation of haematopoiesis, respectively. We always try to give our students an authentic experience of what research is like and both did really well and got lots of data. We really enjoyed hosting these two and hope they come back in some capacity in the future!
MBChB students 2022
Harriet and Jack joined us for the SSC projects and worked on developing a model for Asxl-related developmental delay in the fly and orphan nuclear receptors and their regulation of haematopoiesis, respectively. We always try to give our students an authentic experience of what research is like and both did really well and got lots of data. We really enjoyed hosting these two and hope they come back in some capacity in the future!
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Isil Ezman
MBB 4th year masters student 2021-2022 Isil joined us as part of her 4th year masters project and worked on the function of macrophage subtypes in the fly and how they relate to vertebrate subpopulations and those found at other stages of development in the fly. In her spare time Isil enjoys reading, baking and ice skating. We also noticed she was very into her films and could hold her own in the film knowledge stakes with the lab's other film buffs (Elliot and Olivier). Isil has gone on to do a PhD in Newcastle in Microbiology. |
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Zhangping Luo
Cardiovascular MRes student 2021-2022 Zhangping joined us on the CV MRes course and worked on a project looking at how diet affects the different types of macrophages that can be found it the fly, their localisation and their functional roles. Zhangping was a very popular and helpful member of the lab and has gone on to do a PhD in Manchester in Cardiovascular Biology. |
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ZP and Luke at graduation!
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Luke Gudzer
Molecular Medicine MSc student 2022 Luke was a MolMed masters student and worked on orphan nuclear receptors and their impact on haematopoiesis and blood cell function in the fly. This was a collaboration with Dr Lynne Prince (IICD). In his spare time Luke was the president of the DJ society at the University of Sheffield and also played guitar in the University's blues band. He's currently working for Versus Arthritis now he has finished his masters course. |
This is meant to be a larva
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After pupation, the adult Tardy stage
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Olivier Tardy
MRC Dimen PhD student in Evans Lab, IICD; 2nd supervisor, Dr. Lynne Prince (2017-2021)
Olivier joined us from the University of Leicester, via a brief sabbatical with "Spoons". Olivier is the first PhD student in the lab to work on an organism other than flies (human primary macrophages will be used in some of his experiments - he is also supervised by Lynne Prince over in the Medical School). Additionally, he is took a modelling approach in collaboration with Dr. Roman Bauer at the University of Newcastle, though ended up concentrating more on the fly genetics side of the project. You can read about his PhD work here (published first author paper in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. He successfully passed his PhD viva in Dec 2021, despite all the nonsense from Covid over the preceding 2 years of his PhD. We wish him all the best for the future!
In his spare time Olivier likes nothing better than a cold beer and hailing from the Midlands is something of a curry-buff and is also heavily into his Sci-Fi! Find Olivier on Twitter as @OlivierTardy2.
After his PhD studies Olivier worked as a research assistant at the University of Warwick and is currently looking at postdoctoral positions.
MRC Dimen PhD student in Evans Lab, IICD; 2nd supervisor, Dr. Lynne Prince (2017-2021)
Olivier joined us from the University of Leicester, via a brief sabbatical with "Spoons". Olivier is the first PhD student in the lab to work on an organism other than flies (human primary macrophages will be used in some of his experiments - he is also supervised by Lynne Prince over in the Medical School). Additionally, he is took a modelling approach in collaboration with Dr. Roman Bauer at the University of Newcastle, though ended up concentrating more on the fly genetics side of the project. You can read about his PhD work here (published first author paper in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. He successfully passed his PhD viva in Dec 2021, despite all the nonsense from Covid over the preceding 2 years of his PhD. We wish him all the best for the future!
In his spare time Olivier likes nothing better than a cold beer and hailing from the Midlands is something of a curry-buff and is also heavily into his Sci-Fi! Find Olivier on Twitter as @OlivierTardy2.
After his PhD studies Olivier worked as a research assistant at the University of Warwick and is currently looking at postdoctoral positions.
Sofia Pellegrini, Jasmine Tai and Alicia Kenwright
SSC Students (2021)
Sofia, Jasmine and Alicia were this year's SSC students and joined us in the lab in Autumn 2021. Unlike last year's batch they got to do wet lab projects and seemed to enjoy the experience!
Sofia worked with Elliot looking at Pkd2 function in fertility and muscle contraction, whereas Jasmine and Alicia teamed up with Iwan to look at regulators of haematopoiesis.
SSC Students (2021)
Sofia, Jasmine and Alicia were this year's SSC students and joined us in the lab in Autumn 2021. Unlike last year's batch they got to do wet lab projects and seemed to enjoy the experience!
Sofia worked with Elliot looking at Pkd2 function in fertility and muscle contraction, whereas Jasmine and Alicia teamed up with Iwan to look at regulators of haematopoiesis.
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Juliette Howarth
Final year Masters student from MBB 2020-2021 Juliette joined us in October 2020 to work with Elliot on regulation of macrophage subpopulation cells in the fly. She had to deal with various lockdowns and being in and out of the lab but did done some really nice work and her thesis was packed full of data (like most of our students she got a first). After her degree Juliette started as a trainee patent attorney (having graduated with a first in 2021). |
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Rosie Davis
Sheffield Hallam Placement Student (2020-2021) Rosie joined us for her placement from September 2020-March 2021. Due to Covid rules and lab occupancy restrictions she had to work remotely so didn't get to come into the lab. She learnt a variety of image processing techniques and was helping Olivier and Elliot with their analysis. Aniyra Chan and Eve Pannone SSC Students (2020) Aniyra and Eve joined us for their SSC projects in Autumn 2020. Unfortunately due to Covid this work was all remote via Google Meet etc. This was a shame as they seemed very lively and we'd have loved to have had them in the lab! Aniyra sort of returned to the fold as she intercalated in the Elks lab, close collaborators of the Evans lab. |
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Hannah Read
Sheffield Hallam Placement Student (2019-2020) Hannah joined us for a year long placement from Sheffield Hallam University, following in Eva's footsteps! She carryied on Eva's work looking at novel regulators of blood cell function and proliferation. Covid disrupted things quite substantially for Hannah but she enjoyed her placement and we loved hosting her! Hannah is now training as a teacher having completed her degree at Hallam. |
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Erin Evans
MBB final year student (2019-2020) Erin carried out a final year project with us and followed on from Ellie's work looking at macrophage subtypes in the fly and how they are related to different types of human macrophage. The project was hugely interferred with by COVID but we loved having her in the lab! Erin is a keen water polo plater and represents the University as well as mentoring school children in science. Find her on Twitter as @biology_e. Erin is currently working as a research assistant for a molecular biology company in Cambridge. |
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Oliver O'Driscoll
SSC student (Autumn 2019 Oliver is an undergraduate medic who was here for six weeks as part of his student selected component research attachement. Oliver has been known to sing Coldplay songs in the lab! We enjoyed hosting him and he worked closely with Hannah Read on her screening project. |
Mounting embryos in the cupboard/microscope room!
Emma the fly
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Emma Armitage
Research assistant (2014-2019) Emma was our Research Assistant and joined the lab in September 2014. She worked closely with Iwan as well as keeping him and the other members of the lab in check! Emma graduated from the University of Manchester with a degree in developmental biology and did her final year project with Prof. Enrique Amaya looking at wound healing processes in Xenopus. Emma was 2nd author on our first two publications - one in Current Biology, the other in PLOS Biology and will no doubt be on a lot of future publications! She has now moved on to the excellent lab of Dr Emily Noel in order to do a PhD. We wish her all the best and are pleased we will still see her about the University. UPDATE - Emma is now Dr Armitage having completed her PhD studies! Find her on Twitter as @emmaarmitage20. |
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Amy Brittle
Post-doc (2018-2019) Amy is a really experienced Drosophila researcher who joined us from the Strutt Lab (BMS, Sheffield) on a short-term contract to help finish off some of the work associated with Jonny Coates's PhD projects. She proved herself invaluable in driving his project further forward with her excellent molecular skills particularly vital to the construction of several important transgenic lines that the lab will rely on in some of our future directions. After returning to the Strutt lab at the end of her contract, Amy then left to become an NHS scientist in Manchester. |
Emma and Eva in the unofficial lab uniform!
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Eva Smith
Placement student from Sheffield Hallam (2018-2020) Eva was a placement student from Sheffield Hallam University and was with us for a year. She worked closely with our RA Emma and did some great work investigating mechanisms of blood cell proliferation and function using larvae as well as having a number of other mini projects. She had a great placement and we really enjoyed hosting her! In fact she returned for a final year project, though this ended up quote disrupted by Covid! Eva is now a clinical scientist for the NHS. |
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Will Cadman
MBB SURE student (Summer 2019) Will was a summer student on the Sheffield Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) scheme and worked with Olivier on find-me signalling. |
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Eleanor Castle
MBB masters student in Evans/Wilson Labs, MBB (2018-2019) Ellie was co-supervised by Iwan and Heather Wilson and looked at the conservation of macrophage markers between flies and humans and also investigated the role of some interesting driver genes that were uncovered by Jonny Coates and Emma Armitage. Ellie is a keen Zumba dancer and was one of the notorious "Vegan 2" in the lab. Ellie now works for the NHS. |
Up a mountain somewhere, looking cool, calm and collected
The infamous pupa costume
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Jonathon Coates
PhD student in Evans/Zeidler Labs, BMS (2015-2019) (now a post-doctoral researcher in the Ross Lab at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge) Jonny was co-supervised by Iwan and Martin Zeidler. His project was to investigate the role of Jak/STAT signalling in early blood cell development and function and whether this related to blood cell subtypes in the fly. He passed his PhD viva in March 2019. Jonny got involved in lots of extra activities as a PhD student including running the iGEM competition entry for the University of Sheffield (a synthetic biology competition). For this and his dedication to helping and supporting others in our lab and wider department, Jonny received an Ian Peake Award from IICD. In his spare time Jonathon is a bit of a daredevil, living a life of fast bikes and skydiving. Before coming to us, Jonny was an undergraduate at the University of Northumberland. He then undertook an MRes in Immunology at the University of Newcastle. As part of his MRes he worked with Lee Borthwick, an alumni of Infection and Immunity here in Sheffield. After a short post-doc position at the Babraham Insititute in Cambridge, he is now working as a post-doc at Queen Mary's in the William Harvey Institute. Find him on Twitter as @jacoates91. |
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Agata Grettka
SSC Student/Volunteer Agata did her SSC project with us (part of her MbChB undergraduate medical degree) and stayed on as a volunteer to help out in the lab. Agata wprked with Jonny and Eva helping them out with their projects. On top of being a very enthusiastic member of the lab she also often brought in delicious treats for everyone (which always goes down well. HINT!) |
Hannah's legendary embryo costume
Locked away in the imaging facility!
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Hannah Roddie
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Suganya Lambotharajah
BMS undergraduate student, autumn 2016 Suganya investigated phagocytosis of fungal pathogens using Drosophila larval hemocytes. It was great to host a such a chirpy and friendly undergraduate! |
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Sarah Roscoe
Masters (and one-time summer) student in Evans and Johnston Labs, IICD Sarah was co-supervised by Iwan and Simon Johnston and investigated phagocytosis using hemocytes. In her spare time Sarah enjoys fell running, climbing and presumably any other exhausting activities. Sarah is currently a PhD student in the lab of Scott Allen in Sitran (University of Sheffield). |
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Sakthi Sharadha
BMS MSc student, spring-summer 2016 Sakthi spent 6 months with us in the lab and worked with Hannah. We wish her the best of luck with her future studies, which excitingly will be in the USA! By the way this is the best student website photo ever! |
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Ella Hubber
BMS undergraduate student, autumn 2015 Ella joined us for a short project looking at apoptotic cell clearance in the embryo and the receptors involved in that process. Ella's favourite hobby (her hubby?) is beekeeping. She also has her own science blog and is also in possession of the 2nd best student website photo ever! Find Ella on Twitter as @EllaHubber (recommended - she posts some cool stuff!) She has recently completed her PhD at Kings College London. |
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Jonny Jackson
SSC student, autumn 2015 Jonny worked with Hannah for 6 weeks looking at phagosome maturation and macrophage migration. Jonny is currently a medic in the Medical School at the University of Sheffield. In his spare time he is a bit of an extreme sports enthusiast - ironman and other rather intense physical activities. Jonny is particularly interested in extreme medicine - mountain rescue first responses and such like. |
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Sam Arnold
SURE student, summer 2014 Sam was a student from MBB at the University of Sheffield and carried out a summer project in the lab as part of the SURE scheme (Sheffield Undergraduate Research Experience). He was looking at the ability of apoptosis to suppress inflammatory responses through Drosophila development. |
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Lydia Dugmore
BSDB Gurdon Studentship, summer 2014 Lydia is a graduate from Liverpool University and spent some time in the lab looking at how macrophages are reprogrammed by contact with pathological levels of apoptosis in fly embryos for her summer project. We received funding from the BSDB as part of their Gurdon Studentship scheme for her project. |
