New Fellows join Pembroke
Pembroke has welcomed three new academics to its Fellowship for the start of the 2022-2023 academic year.
Dr Connie Bloomfield-Gadêlha - Drapers' Research Fellow
Connie's research focuses on receptions of Graeco-Roman antiquity in the popular oral poetries of Latin America, with particular focus on the cantoria and cordel traditions of Northeast Brazil. Connie is also collaborating with the Mexican poet Pura Lopez Colomé to translate her collection Via Corporis (awarded the prestigious Premio Xavier Villarrutia) into English. Connie is especially interested in poetic temporalities, and is co-editor with Edith Hall of the forthcoming volume Time, Tense and Genre in Ancient Greek Literature (Oxford University Press). Before coming to Pembroke, Connie studied Classics at Oxford, Comparative European and Latin American Literatures and Cultures at Cambridge, and completed her PhD in Classics and Comparative Literature at King’s College, London.
Dr Tom Chaffey - Maudslay-Butler Research Fellow
Tom's research lies at the intersection of nonlinear control theory, electrical circuit theory and convex optimisation. He is currently searching for “a control theory for neuromorphics”: a theory which lets people design electrical circuits which behave like biological nervous systems, using the analysis tools of nonlinear control and the computational tools of convex optimisation.
Dr Zenon Toprakcioglu - Ron Thompson Research Fellow in Alzheimer’s Disease
It is known that certain proteins, that are ubiquitous in most mammals, can self-assemble into fibrillar aggregates which have a toxic effect towards cells and are associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Dr Toprakcioglu's curiosity into how this biological process occurs led him to investigate these diseases from a mechanistic viewpoint; to look into how protein monomers can clump together (nucleate) and form oligomers and fibrils. He is particularly interested in how surfaces and interfaces can affect primary nucleation – the fundamental process behind all aggregation events – either by accelerating or by inhibiting its progress. He believes that if we can gain such mechanistic insights and understand the fundamentals behind protein aggregation, we can tackle neurodegenerative diseases more efficiently.
Connie, Tom and Zenon will be admitted as Fellows at a special ceremony after a College Meeting in the Chapel, on Tuesday 11 October.
Leaving the Fellowship
Professor Trevor Allan, Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe and Professor Geoffrey Hayward have retired, while Professor Silvana Cardoso has stepped down. All four will become Emeritus Fellows.
Dr Jessica Maratsos has taken up a University post, while Hannah Alsisi has returned as a Bye-Fellow.