Principal Investigator

Lab Head


Dr. Ralitsa Madsen
Dr. Ralitsa Madsen
Principal Investigator

Ralitsa is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow (round 8). Her research focuses on the quantitative systems biology of PI3K signalling and on developing state-gating therapeutic approaches. She completed her Wellcome Trust-funded PhD at the Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge (2015–2018), followed by a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship at UCL Cancer Institute. She is an avid Open Science chmapion and serves on the UK Committee on Research Integrity (UK CORI).

Current Members

PhD Students


Oliwia Mruk
Oliwia Mruk
PhD Student

Oliwia is an MRC-funded PhD student whose research focuses on non-cell-autonomous mechanisms of PI3K signalling regulation. She also develops quantitative image analysis pipelines for live-cell capture of PI3K signalling dynamics.

Alex Musk
Alex Musk
PhD Student

Alex is a Wellcome Trust PhD student whose research focuses on dissecting the lineage-specific logic of genetic PI3Kα activation, using iPSC-derived cellular models with engineered and patient-derived PIK3CA mutations.

Sweta Swaminathan
Sweta Swaminathan
PhD Student

Sweta is a CRUK-funded PhD student whose research focuses on dissecting mechanisms of PI3Kα inhibition and adaptive feedback across lineage- and ligand-receptor-specific constraints.

Postdoctoral Researchers


Robert Vander Velde
Robert Vander Velde
Postdoctoral Researcher

Robert is an experienced postdoctoral researcher whose project focuses on developing advanced lineage barcoding platforms that enable the molecular reconstruction of pathological trajectories in disease settings like cancer and PROS, thereby enabling targeted biomarker discovery.

Aitsana Maslakova
Aitsana Maslakova
Postdoctoral Researcher

Aitsana comes with a wealth of experience in cell biology, biochemistry and biophysics. She is pioneering a new approach to mapping context-dependent PI3Kα neighbourhoods. Combined with the group's iPSC-based disease model systems, Aitsana's work will be instrumental for our efforts to develop novel state-gating therapeutic approaches.

Join the Lab

We are always interested in hearing from motivated scientists who are excited about quantitative biology and PI3K signalling. Whether you are looking for a postdoc, PhD rotation, or project placement, please reach out.

Get in Touch