Dr Ioanna Mela

At Emmanuel, Ioanna is an Official Fellow in Medicine and Natural Sciences. She is Assistant Professor in the University's Department of Pharmacology, and a Royal Society University Research Fellow.

Biography

Ioanna studied Chemical Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, and while an undergraduate undertook a placement at Unilever Corporate Research, where she learned how to use an Atomic Force Microscope. She was fascinated by the technique, and this led her to pursue a PhD at the University of Cambridge's Department of Pharmacology with Professor Robert Henderson. While working towards her PhD, she was introduced to DNA nanotechnology. 

During a Research Associate appointment at the Department of Pharmacology, she combined DNA nanotechnology with high-speed Atomic Force Microscopy. In 2018, she then moved to Cambridge's Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology as a Research Associate. There, she developed correlative atomic force microscopy with super-resolution microscopy platforms. In parallel she also explored further DNA nanotechnology as a tool in targeted antimicrobial delivery. This work has led to her award of a Royal Society University Research Fellowship and an lectureship in the Department of Pharmacology. Beyond her work, Ioanna enjoys spending time with her family, reading, good food, (a lot of) coffee, going to concerts, exhibitions and dance performances.

Teaching

Ioanna teaches the 'Mechanisms of Drug Action' course for second year undergraduate Medical and Veterinary Medical students.

Research

Her research focuses on the use of DNA as a building material, specifically one that can be used to create antimicrobial drug delivery vehicles. The two main lines of her lab's research focus on DNA nanostructure development, for optimal interaction with their bacterial targets and on aptamer selection, to 'anchor' these nanostructures on their targets. To achieve these goals, we use a range of approaches, with the main focus being on Atomic Force Microscopy for nanostructure characterisation and SELEX for aptamer selection. Recent coverage of her research has been published in the New Scientist and via the CGTN Razor YouTube channel.