Michael Way did his undergraduate in the Biophysics Dept. King’s College, London. During his Ph.D. he studied the actin binding properties of gelsolin in the lab of Alan Weeds in the structural studies division of the Medical Research Council, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK. In 1989 he received the Max Perutz student prize for his Ph.D. work. He remained in Alan’s lab as a postdoc for three years studying the actin binding properties of alpha-actinin, dystrophin and gelsolin before moving to Boston, for a second postdoc with Paul Matsudaira at the Whitehead Institute, MIT, USA. In 1995, he started his own group in the Cell Biology Programme at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany, studying how vaccinia virus hijacks the actin cytoskeleton to enhance its spread. In 2001, Michael returned to London to head the cell motility group in the London Research Institute, Cancer Research UK. In 2016 he moved to the Francis Crick Institute to lead the Cellular Signalling and Cytoskeletal Function Lab.
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Michael has been an editor for the Journal of Cell Science since 2005 and was appointed its editor-in-chief in 2012. He is on the editorial boards of Cellular Microbiology, Cell Host & Microbe, Developmental Cell, EMBO Journal, EMBO Reports and Small GTPases. He was elected an EMBO member in 2006 and a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2015. Michael is an honorary Professor at University College, London as well as King’s College, London and is a Professor of Virology, Imperial College, London since 2013.
NAOKO KOGATA
Following her degree in Life Science at University of Hyogo in Japan, Naoko did Masters degree studying protein transport in plant chloroplast at the Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University. She then worked as product developer in Unicharm Co., Japan prior to starting her PhD analysing cell-cell adhesion molecules during blood vessel development at the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases and National Cardiovascular Centre, Osaka Japan. She continued her interest in vascular morphogenesis by doing a postdoc studying the role of ILK in blood vessel wall formation in Ralf Adams lab, Cancer Research UK London Research Institute. In 2010 Naoko joined the group of Beatrice Howard at Institute of Cancer Research (London) to investigate embryonic factors in mammary primordial formation and mammary tumour progression.  In 2017 she joined the Way Lab and her ongoing research is to dissect the functional diversity of Arp2/3 subunit isoforms during invadopodia formation as well as its impact in tissue morphogenesis and homeostasis.
ILARIA DALLA ROSA
Ilaria graduated with a master degree in Biology from the University of Bologna, Italy. For her PhD she joined the group of Fritz Boege at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, where she studied the role of mitochondrial topoisomerase 1 on mitochondrial DNA maintenance. In 2010 she joined Yves Pommier’s lab at the NIH in Bethesda, USA, as postdoctoral visiting fellow, continuing her work on topoisomerases and their role in DNA damage and repair pathways. In 2013 Ilaria relocated to London and joined Antonella Spinazzola’s lab at UCL for a second postdoc examining the mechanisms leading to defective mitochondrial DNA replication in human disease. Ilaria joined the Way Lab in Feb 2019 and is studying how the host DNA damage response is activated by vaccinia infection and how this activation promotes viral replication.
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ANGIKA BASANT
Angika did her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University followed by a Masters by Research at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. During her PhD in Michael Glotzer’s lab at The University of Chicago, she studied division plane positioning in animal cells. Her work helped elucidate a complex molecular mechanism by which a key molecule RhoA is activated on the equatorial plasma membrane, at the right place and time for successful cell cleavage.
Currently, she is interested in understanding how multi-component cellular signalling networks are organised to perform specific functions, and enjoys using Vaccinia virus-directed actin polymerisation as a model system.
MIGUEL HERNANDEZ GONZALEZ
Miguel graduated in Biology from the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), followed by a Master’s in Microbiology, in 2012-2013. For his PhD, he joined Peñalva’s lab, at the Biological Research Centre-Spanish Research Council, Madrid, where he studied endocytic recycling and the dynamic organization of the Golgi apparatus.
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In 2018, he joined Stephen Royle’s lab at the University of Warwick (UK) for a short stay, expanding his knowledge on the role of multi-subunit complexes and biological membranes in membrane trafficking, particularly in the formation of clathrin coated vesicles.
Miguel became a member of the Way lab in mid 2019, to study how vaccinia poxvirus hijacks membrane trafficking machinery in its replication cycle, with a special interest in the role of septin and clathrin in vaccinia virus assembly and egress. In order to do that, he is using a combination of Cryo-Electron Tomography and fluorescence microscopy, with a virology and cell biology perspective.
ANNA CHOJNACKA
Anna obtained her undergraduate degree in Biophysics from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland in 2015. Her final project, in the lab of Zenon Rajfur, examined protruding actin microridges on the top layer of fish epithelial cells. This project stimulated Anna's interest in actin and super resolution microscopy. She remained at Jagiellonian University for her 2 year masters degree, spending her second year in the lab of Gareth Jones at King's College, London on an Erasmus internship. Collaborating with Susan Cox, she examined the structure and dynamics of actin rich podosomes using dSTORM and 3B super resolution microscopy.
Anna joined the Way Lab in Sept 2019 as a PhD student. Her project uses Vaccinia virus as a model system to study how RhoGTPase signalling regulates the cortical actin cytoskeleton.
MIROSLAV MLADENOV
After obtaining his Pharmacology degree from London Metropolitan University, Miroslav did a research based Masters degree studying protein biochemistry at Imperial College London. He then joined Prof. Angelika Gründling’s lab at the MRC Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and Infection, Imperial College London, where he helped establish the structure of the Staphylococcus aureus cyclic diadenylate monophosphate (c-di-AMP)-binding protein PstA. He further developed his interest in biochemistry in Dr. Anthony Roberts lab at the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, where he contributed to the structural elucidation of intraflagellar Dynein.  In Oct 2019 Miroslav joined the Way Lab, where he focuses on biochemical analysis of Arp2/3 subunit isoforms.
LUYAN CAO
After completing her undergraduate degree in Biotechnology at Tongji University, Shanghai, Yan moved to France. She obtained her Master degree in Molecular Biology at Paris-Saclay University. Yan did her PhD with Marcel Knossow and Benoit Gigant, at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), determining the crystal structure of apo-kinesin in complex with tubulin heterodimer.
As a postdoc fellow, she worked with Guillaume Romet-Lemonne and Antoine Jegou at the Jacques Monod Institute, Paris. She studied the regulation of cortical actin organisation using in vitro assays including microfluidics and single molecule imaging.
In Oct 2020, Yan joined the Way lab at the Crick to realise in vitro analysis of Arp2/3 complex family member properties.
SHAINA HUANG
Shaina did her Bachelor in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Hong Kong with a final year project studying viral micro-RNA expression in EBV-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in Prof. George SW Tsao’s lab. She continued to do her MPhil in George’s lab, during which she established the humanised mouse platform and multiplex immune cytochemistry to evaluate the immune infiltration in human NPC. In Oct 2020, she came to London and joined the Way Lab at the Crick to study the roles of Arp2/3 complex isoforms in the mouse immune system.
STEPHANIE DRYMIOTOU
Stephanie graduated from the University of Nottingham medical school with an intercalated degree in 2013, BMBS BMedSci (Hons). She then moved to London where she started working as a junior doctor. In 2016, she started her specialist training In Obstetrics and Gynaecology and has developed an interest in Gynaecological Oncology. She paused her clinical training and joined the Way lab in Oct 2020 to start a PhD.  She is studying how Vaccinia virus can be used as an oncolytic agent in combination therapies for ovarian cancer. The dog is called Kyo
OLIVIA Â HILL
Olivia graduated with an Integrated Master’s degree in Biological Sciences from UCL in July 2021. In her final year she completed a research project on the organism-wide effects of mitochondrial stress in C. elegans in the lab of Dr John Labbadia at the Institute of Healthy Ageing, UCL. Her interests in cytoskeletal function and imaging were solidified during a Lister Institute and Microbiology Society-funded summer studentship in the lab of Dr Serge Mostowy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Olivia joined the Way Lab in as a PhD student in October 2021 and is investigating the impact of Arp2/3 isocomplexes on actin dynamics.
LUIZ VASCONCELLOS
Luiz did his BSc and MSc in Microbiology and Immunology in Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He received the national prize Capes for his PhD thesis on the mechanisms of protein aggregation and autophagy in the lab of Leonardo Travassos.
He then moved to Paris to study antigen presentation in haemolytic events with Bénédicte Manoury in the Necker Hospital of Children Disease before returning to Brazil to collaborate with Pedro Coelho on the role of blood components in intracerebral haemorrhage.
In 2019 he moved to QMUL in London as a Marie Curie fellow to study the role of PI3K signalling in gut immunity in lab of Ezra Aksoy. In Nov 2021 he joined the Way lab to study the function of Arp2/3 isocomplexes in immunity and inflammation.