People

Edyta Walewska

Postdoctoral Scientist

Edyta completed her PhD in the António Galvão’s lab at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn, where she investigated how maternal obesity alters the uterine environment, with a particular focus on the role of leptin signalling in impaired decidualisation and placental development (10.1007/s00018-024-05336-7; 10.1530/REP-24-0319). This led to her PhD being awarded by the Medical University of Białystok.

She then joined Gavin Kelsey’s group at the Babraham Institute as a research assistant, contributing to a study on oocyte competence and epigenetic regulation. Now in the Metzis lab, Edyta is investigating how retinoic acid signalling shapes cell identity, with a focus on transcriptional repression.

Email: EDYTA WALEWSKA

Christos Kalaitzis

PhD student

Christos obtained a BSc (Hons) in Genetics from the University of Sussex in 2019. He completed an MSc in Human Molecular Genetics at Imperial College London in 2020, where his final project in the Lovell-Badge lab at the Francis Crick Institute focused on the transcription factor FOXL2 in craniofacial development and adult pituitary hormonal lineage specification.

Staying at the Crick, Christos then worked as a Laboratory Research Officer with the Briscoe lab, where he studied the molecular mechanisms of how cis-regulatory elements work to direct gene expression in the developing spinal cord. 

In 2022, Christos joined the Metzis lab at Imperial College London as a SAMURII PhD student. In collaboration with the Vaquerizas lab, he is examining how cell identity is controlled during neural crest development.

Email: CHRISTOS KALAITZIS

Vicki Metzis

Lab head

Vicki Metzis is a developmental biologist. She obtained her PhD from the University of Queensland, working with Carol Wicking at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience in Brisbane. Here, she developed an interest in mouse genetics and in vitro approaches to study gene regulatory networks.

Vicki then undertook postdoctoral training in the lab of James Briscoe at the Francis Crick Institute, where she developed expertise in the use of embryonic stem cells to model cell fate decisions, combining experimental and computational approaches.

In 2020, Vicki moved to Imperial College London to establish her own research group, which studies the molecular mechanisms that control cell identity during development. Vicki is a Sir Henry Dale Fellow supported by Wellcome and The Royal Society.

Email: VICKI METZIS

Hayden McCarthy

MRes student

Hayden completed an MMath (hons) mathematics degree at the University of Manchester in 2021 before spending three years working in the civil engineering industry. After developing an interest in life sciences he then enrolled in an MRes in Bioinformatics and Theoretical Systems Biology at Imperial.

In 2025, Hayden completed an MRes research project in the Metzis lab, applying in silico approaches to predict cis-regulatory element function, in collaboration with Juanma Vaquerizas.

In October 2025, Hayden began his PhD in the LIDo programme.

Email: HAYDEN MCCARTHY

Julia Needham

PhD student

Julia joined the Metzis Lab at Imperial College London as a PhD student in 2020. She obtained a BSc in Biology from the the University of Bristol in 2019. She completed an MPhil in Genetics at the University of Cambridge in the Ferguson-Smith Lab, studying the epigenetic regulation of the mammary gland. She is funded by the President’s PhD Scholarship.

Julia completed her PhD in October 2024 and is now working at The Francis Crick Institute as the Quality and Governance Manager for the MANIFEST Consortium (https://www.manifest-io.org.uk).

Email: JULIA NEEDHAM

Jia Luo

MSc student

Jia obtained her BSc in Biomedicine at University of East Anglia in 2022 and is currently enrolled in the Reproductive and Developmental Biology MSc program at Imperial College London. Her interest in developmental biology really grew after completing an undergraduate lab project investigating HOXC6 target genes operating at the cervical to thoracic boundary in chick embryos at the Münsterberg lab.

Jia finds the process of how cells interpret positional information and gain a specific fate during embryonic development an interesting question and took this curiosity further in her project in the Metzis lab, looking at the regulation of CDX2 during embryonic development.

Email: JIA LUO

Jihye Song

BSc student

Jihye is studying a BSc in Medical Biosciences at Imperial College London.

Jihye joined the Metzis Lab during July-September 2022 to develop experience in genome engineering approaches and their application to embryonic stem cells. She has a broad range of interests spanning regenerative medicine, cell fate decisions, organogenesis and immunology.

Email: JIHYE SONG

Neda Mousavy

Research Associate

Neda obtained her BSc in Biology from Iran. She then moved to London where she undertook an MSc in Molecular Medicine at UCL. She continued her scientific career working as a Research Assistant at the UCL-Institute of Child Health and at the National Institute for Medical Research (now part of The Francis Crick Institute). During these years she developed expertise in neural tube and pituitary gland development, working with James Briscoe and Juan Pedro Martinez-Barbera. She was supported by a Diabetes UK grant to pursue her PhD at Imperial College London. Her work focused on the roles of two GWAS genes linked to type 2 diabetes in the control of glucose homeostasis. Neda joined the Metzis Lab as a Research Associate working on neuroaxis development. She is now based at Sixfold Bioscience, at our neighbouring White City Campus.

Email: NEDA MOUSAVY