Lab Members
Dr Rafael G da Silva – Principal Investigator
I’m a native of Porto Alegre, a city in the south of Brazil. I received a BSc degree in Biology (2002) from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, and MSc (2005) and PhD (2008) degrees in Biochemistry from the same university, under the supervision of Dr Luiz Basso. After post-doctoral training (2008-2012) with Dr Vern Schramm at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, I worked at Pfizer in Connecticut, first as Senior Scientist, then as Principal Scientist (2012-2014). In 2015, I moved to Scotland as a research group leader at the University of St Andrews.
Anna Carberry – Biology PhD Student
I am originally from Bangor in Northern Ireland. I completed a BSc in Joint Honours Biology and Chemistry at the University of St Andrews, where I have stayed to undertake a PhD in the da Silva lab group. My project is sponsored jointly by NuCana and the School of Biology, and aims to elucidate the mechanism human DNPH1 enzyme, whose upregulation has been proposed to grant resistance to PARP-inhibitor chemotherapy in BRCA-negative cancers.
Soumili Biswas – Biology PhD Student
I was born in Kolkata, India, and completed an integrated BS-MS degree in Biology major at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (2020-2025), with my Master’s research supervised by Prof. Prasanta K. Das. I am currently undertaking a PhD in the da Silva lab at the University of St Andrews, funded by the School of Biology. My project focuses on the bifunctional enzyme HisIE from the multidrug-resistant pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii, aiming to dissect catalysis and regulation between its two catalytic domains, and harness this info to design inhibitors.
Lily Bates – Biology PhD Student
I am from Ohio in the United States. I graduated from the University of St Andrews in 2025 with my BSc in Biochemistry. I stayed at St Andrews to pursue my PhD, co-supervised by Dr Rafael G da Silva (School of Biology) and Dr John Mitchell (School of Chemistry). My project, funded by the St Leonard’s Postgraduate College World Leading Doctoral Scholarship, combines experimental and computational techniques to understand the allosteric inhibition of Acinetobacter baumannii ATP phosphoribosyltransferase by natural and novel inhibitors. This work has future applications in the development of novel antibiotics against Acinetobacter baumannii.
Myriam Kabu – Biology PhD Student
I was born and raised in Kinshasa (DRCongo), moved to England in (2005) where I completed my master’s degree in Pharmaceutical science with industrial placement at Kingston University (2013). I joined the pharmaceutical industry working for companies such as Novartis, UCB, ICR and GSK within the drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics department (DMPK) as a Bioanalyst and In vitro senior Scientist. My project is funded by a Medical Research Scotland grant and by NuCana, and aims to characterise BDH2 and cis-4 hydroxy-L-proline analogues for anticancer drug development.
Roni Louden – Biology MSc(Res) Studen
I am from Falkirk in central Scotland and graduated with a BSc in Molecular Biology from the University of St Andrews in 2024. I am continuing in the da Silva lab to complete a part-time MSc(Res) over the course of two years. This research proposes to elucidate the evolutionary history of ATPPRT to deepen our understanding of allosteric regulation and catalysis. This will be done through ancestral enzyme reconstruction.
Lab Alumni
Name – Position in the Lab – Period – Current Post:
Dr Ennio Pecaver – PhD student – 2022 – 2025 – Senior Scientist at Cancer Research Horizons (Cambridge)
Dr Ben Read – PhD Student – 2019 – 2024 – Postdoc at Institute of Cancer Research (London)
Dr Suneeta Devi – Postdoc – 2021 – 2023 – Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool
Erin Laing – MSc(Res) student – 2022 – 2023 – Research Assistant at the BSRC/University of St Andrews
Dr Gemma Fisher – PhD Student – 2017 – 2022 – Scientist at Hammersmith Medicines Research (London)
Dr Teresa Machado – PhD Student – 2016 – 2021 – Postdoc at the Francis Crick Institute (London)
Dr Pamela Sweeney – Postdoc – 2018-2021 – Scientist at Crescendo Biologics (Cambridge)
Dr Catherine Thomson – PhD student – 2015-2019 – Consultant at Deloitte (Edinburgh)