Pathway to Independence Programme: our 2024 PI fellows

Following a successful pilot year in 2023 with a fantastic set of postdocs, we are delighted to announce our second cohort of Pathway to Independence (PI) fellows. We had significantly more applications this year, making it an even harder decision than last year to select just eight candidates that we will support as they transition from postdoc to Principal Investigator. So we'd first like to thank all those who applied and to wish them luck in their future careers - we hope you will all go on to do great things! We'll be featuring some of these researchers in upcoming editions of our Development Presents webinar series, so do look out for these in the coming months. 

After much deliberation, we selected the eight individuals listed below to become our 2024 PI fellows and we're excited to be working with this talented group of researchers - providing training and mentorship - as they navigate the job market. You'll be hearing more from each of them in the journal over the course of this programme. 

Meet our 2024 PI Fellows

Marcella Birtele

Marcella obtained her Ph.D. in experimental and molecular science at Lund University, Sweden, where she focussed on dissecting the functional and transcriptional profile of dopaminergic neurons. Currently, she is working as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Quadrato's lab at the University of Southern California, USA, where she identified an unknown role for the SYNGAP1 gene in controlling human cortical neurogenesis using cortical organoids.  Marcella is interested in leveraging organoid models to dissect mechanisms underlying brain disorders. Find out more about Marcella in this interview. 

You can follow Marcella on X at @MarcellaBirtele

Martina Cerise

Martina is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of George Coupland at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany. She moved there having previously completed her PhD with Fabio Fornara at the University of Milan, Italy. Martina's research interests focus on the floral transition, which helps define plant architecture and leads to fruit and seed production, using both rice and Arabidopsis as model systems. Find out more about Martina in this interview. 

You can follow Martina on X at @mCherry81197466

Lydia Djenoune

Lydia received her PhD from the French National Museum of Natural History under the mentorship of Dr. Claire Wyart and Prof. Hervé Tostivint studying cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons and the role of the polycystin channel Pkd2l1 in the zebrafish spinal cord. Following a first postdoc with Ian Drummond, she is now a postdoctoral fellow in Shiaulou Yuan's lab at The Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA. Lydia aims to decipher the role of cilia, polycystin channels, and mechanosensation in cardiac development. Find out more about Lydia in this interview.

Girish Kale

Girish is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Steffen Lemke, which recently relocated from the University of Heidelberg to the University of Hohenheim, Germany. Prior to this, he was a graduate student at the Marseille Developmental Biology Institute (IBDM), France, working with Thomas Lecuit and Pierre-Francois Lenne, and a postdoctoral fellow with Satyajit Mayor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, India. Girish's research interests lie in understanding the influence of elevated temperature on early fly embryo development. Find out more about Girish in this interview.

You can follow Girish on X at @girish_kale_phd

Eirini Maniou

Eirini is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions postdoctoral fellow working with Nicola Elvassore at the University of Padova, Italy. She untertook her PhD with Kees Weijer at the University of Dundee, UK, and then worked with Andrea Münsterberg (University of East Anglia, UK) and Gabriel Galea (University College London, UK). She is interested in the mechanical forces mediating neural tube morphogenesis, primarily using the chick embryo as a tractable vertebrate model. Find out more about Eirini in this interview.

You can follow Eirini on X at @EManiou

Louis Prahl

Louis completed his PhD with David Odde at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, USA. He is a postdoctoral fellow in Alex Hughes’ lab in the Department of Bioengineering and the Center for Soft & Living Matter at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. Louis is interested in how epithelial cells organize into complex structures, such as branching kidney collecting ducts, and developing new engineering strategies to control tissue organization. Find out more about Louis in this interview.

You can follow Louis on X at  @lsprahl

Keaton Schuster

Keaton is currently a postdoctoral researcher with Lionel Christiaen at New York University, USA. He obtained his PhD in cell and developmental biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, under the guidance of Rachel Smith-Bolton. Keaton is interested in understanding the cellular, developmental, and evolutionary origins of cardiovascular regeneration using the tunicate Ciona robusta as a model. Find out more about Keaton in this interview.

You can follow Keaton on X at @KeatonSchuster

Clémentine Villeneuve

Clémentine did her PhD in cancer biology at the Institut Curie, France, in the lab of Philippe Chavrier. She then joined Sara Wickström's lab, now at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Muenster, Germany. Her research focuses on understanding the integration of biochemical and mechanical signals that govern stem cell fate acquisition during tissue patterning and morphogenesis, using the mouse as a model system, with a particular emphasis on the development of skin and its appendages. Find out more about Clémentine in this interview.

You can follow Clémentine on X at @Clem_Villeneuve