Generations of Exceptional Scientists
Meet the lab
Dr Felix Chan - Group Leader
Dr Parag Juvale - Postdoctoral researcher
Hanya Sandel - PhD Student
Katy McGonigal - PhD Student
Recruiting a PhD student now!
James Sunderland - Placement student
Eddie Hildebrand - Placement student
Jake Whitaker - Placement student
Anna Peat - Placement student
Principal Investigator
Dr. Felix Chan
(he/him)
Email: f.chan2@aston.ac.uk
Dr. Felix Chan was originally from Padang, Indonesia. He completed his undergraduate in medical sciences at Universitas Indonesia; before moving to the UK to pursue his M.Res in Neuroscience degree at Newcastle University. Felix fell in love with neuroscience so much that he decided to pursue a PhD in Neuroscience at Newcastle University. His PhD thesis is on creating the first in vitro brain slice model of mitochondrial epilepsy and the importance of glutamine metabolism in this type of epilepsy.
Dr. Chan then moved to Brown University in the USA to undertake a postdoctoral training in cellular and molecular neuroscience. Here, Dr. Chan started his work on pediatric focal epilepsy and characterized the importance of lysine metabolism in various pediatric epilepsy like tuberous sclerosis complex. Since September 2022, Dr. Chan moved to Aston University to establish his independent research group continuing to work on metabolism in epilepsy.
Dr. Chan loves baking (ask him for his signature chocolate brownie) and also have unparalleled love for Taylor Swift musics.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Parag Juvale
(he/him)
Email: p.juvale@aston.ac.uk
Dr. Parag Juvale is the newest member of the Chan Lab, joining in January 2024. Originally from Pune, India, he completed his B.Sc. in Microbiology at the University of Pune. After working as a research assistant in Dr. Vikram Ghole’s lab at the University of Pune for a year, Parag moved to the UK to pursue his M.Sc. in Cancer Cell and Molecular Biology degree at the University of Leicester. Parag completed his PhD in Dr. Sarah Pallas’s lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA, where he studied the role of GABA signaling in a novel, delayed form of maladaptive plasticity in the adult visual system.
Parag had a long career before his Ph.D., during which he worked in various research areas including medicinal chemistry, cancer biology, and immunology. In the Chan Lab, Parag plans to draw inspiration from his previous experience and perform interdisciplinary work in molecular and cellular neuroscience.
Outside the lab, Parag loves attending concertos and symphonies; he enjoys Indian and Western classical music equally and plays the Tabla, an Indian percussion instrument. Parag is also an avid fan of Doctor Who books; in fact, reading Doctor Who in high school gave Parag the impetus to pursue science!
PhD Students
Katy is from Falkirk in Scotland and moved to Glasgow to studied at the University of Strathclyde to achieve an M.Chem in Chemistry with Drug Discovery. As part of her course, Katy spent a year working for Sygnature Discovery in Nottingham in their laboratories working on expanding Sygnature’s scaffold library.
Katy has just completed her thesis on novel alkylation reactions with ethers and alcohols which identified a new way for forming cyclopropanes, and she is excited about applying the skills I have learned to new research. Katy has always been interested in carrying out research that will make a positive impact to people’s health. At university, her love for chemistry grew as well as her curiosity for biology, so she looked for an opportunity that would combine the two in my research. Katy is joining the team at Aston University on a project to engineer a novel drug for epilepsy in tuberous sclerosis complex.
Katy is very active outside the lab and love being in the wilderness whether its running, hill walking or just a wee wander round a park with friends.
Katy McGonigal
(she/her)
Email: 230342703@aston.ac.uk
EPSRC LifeTime CDT PhD Student
Project: ‘Modulating mitochondrial function towards drug discovery for epilepsy in tuberous sclerosis complex’
Hanya Sandel
(she/her)
Email: 190001135@aston.ac.uk
Birmingham Children Hospital - Aston Institute of Neurodevelopment PhD Student
Project: ‘Investigating the role of aquaporin in epilepsy and neurodevelopment in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC)’
Hanya is from Sandwell, Birmingham, where she completed most of her education. She considers herself very much family oriented. She went to primary school at Blackheath Primary and completed her GCSEs and A levels at Oldbury Academy High School/Sixth Form. Following completion of her A-levels; in Biology, Psychology, and Criminology, she followed her love for Biology to Aston University. Here, she studied for an integrated masters in biological science degree (M.Biol student). Through her Master research project, her love and appreciation for aquaporin protein encouraged her to apply for a PhD opportunity in our lab to look at aquaporin in epilepsy.
Although Hanya may not look like it, she is a keen supporter of the Formula1 racing and she has recently been to Belgium to watch the racing live as well as experiencing track days and tours.
Placement Students
2023 - 2024 Cohorts
Eddie Hildebrand
(he/him)
Email: e.hildebrand@aston.ac.uk
Jake Whitaker
(he/him)
Email: j.whitaker2@aston.ac.uk
Anna D Peat
(she/her)
Email: adp69@bath.ac.uk
Eddie (Ed) Hildebrand is from Barnet in North London and he currently study Biology at the University of Bath. He loves what he studies and this passion for biology has nudged me towards research. Ed is especially excited about the opportunity to do valuable research that directly aims to seek answers about diseases and issues that affect people. Having studied Psychology at A level and Biology since young, Ed know the importance of finding causes and cures for epilepsy.
Ed is a big sports guy, having played in many sports teams over the years including county cricket for 4 years and playing Sunday league football for 8 years! He is currently training for a half marathon, although only a few weeks into training, he is regretting his decision already!
“Being in a lab gives me a great buzz so I am looking forward to starting and becoming a valued member of the team! “
Jake is from a small town called Kidderminster in Worcestershire, where he gained his GCSE’s and A-levels at Baxter College. Currently, Jake is studying Biomedical Sciences at the University of Bath. Jake has a keen interest in gene editing and gene editing technology such as CRISPR. When outside of the lab, he is a keen gamer and badminton player.
Anna is a second-year student of B.Sc Biochemistry at the University of Bath. Anna is very excited to be joining the Chan Lab for her upcoming placement year in September 2023.
Anna’s love for Biology started at school where she had an amazing teacher who opened my eyes to such an interesting and dynamic field of science. This pushed Anna to study Biology and Chemistry for her A Levels and she became interested in pursuing both disciplines for her Bachelor’s degree.
Anna greatly enjoys studying Biochemistry and in particular, she is very interested in learning about the molecular details of signaling pathways. Anna loves how broad Biochemistry is as we get to learn about the common molecular mechanisms of many different cells, tissue, and organ systems. However, she has most enjoyed applying this knowledge to disease states including cancer, infection responses, and neurodegenerative disease.
It is for this reason that Anna is delighted to have the opportunity to work in the Chan Lab where she will be studying the role of hydrogen sulphide pathway in epilepsy. She is also greatly anticipating studying the same pathway in Parkinson’s Disease alongside Dr. Lissette Sanchez-Aranguren, whose expertise she cannot wait to draw from.
Anna has many interests outside of science. She like to get involved with many sports like hockey, running, and swimming; but she also like to read and bake in her free time as well.
James Sunderland
(he/him)
Email: 210042393@aston.ac.uk
James Sunderland is from Southport, Merseyside in the North West of England. James attended Birkdale High School in Southport then on to Runshaw College in Leyland where he studied Maths, Biology, and Psychology. James is currently pursuing a B.Sc in Neuroscience at Aston University in Birmingham; where he just completed his 2nd year of study. James is joining us for his placement year to undertake neuroscience research placement. James is interested in studying rare diseases that have little attention from the public eye. James had taken part in our Rare Disease Day social media campaign to raise awareness for rare diseases.
James is a huge sports fan, especially in football and horse-racing. Fun fact - James has a twin sister who studies genetics at University of Manchester!
Partners and Collaborators
Dr. Lissette Sanchez-Aranguren - expert in mitochondrial energetics and metabolism
Dr. Mandeep Marwah - expert in pharmaceutics and drug formulation
Dr. Raj Badhan - expert in pharmacokinetics and drug delivery
Prof. Roslyn Bill - expert in aquaporin (water transport channel) biology
Dr. Philip Kitchen - expert in aquaporin (water transport channel) biology
Dr. Georgie Agar - expert in sleep in rare genetic disease
Dr. Stacey Bissell - expert in sleep and feeding behavior in TSC
Dr. Darcy Krueger - Director of the TSC Clinic
Dr. Helen Bateup - expert in TSC
Prof. Grainne Gorman - Director of Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research
Prof. Wyatt Yue - expert in structural biology and drug discovery in rare diseases
Dr. Chris Stewart - expert in microbiome profiling
Dr. Rhys Thomas - expert in rare forms of epilepsy
Prof. Mark Cunningham- expert in neurophysiology and epilepsy
Dr. Mustafa Sahin - Director of Translational Neuroscience Center
Join Us!
We are always keen to hear from interested individuals to join us or to partner up for collaboration!