{"id":40,"date":"2023-10-11T14:52:14","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T13:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/david-horn\/?page_id=40"},"modified":"2026-02-13T15:37:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T15:37:01","slug":"news","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/david-horn\/news\/","title":{"rendered":"News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rupa Nagar \u2013 Mass spectrometry lead<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

November 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rupa joined the team as a post-doc in May and, following excellent work on multiple projects, has now taken up a Mass Spectrometry lead position in Glasgow with Entourage Diagnostics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RNA-based VSG regulation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

October 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work from Douglas shows how trypanosomes control singular VSG<\/em> expression: see Nucleic Acids Research<\/em><\/a> and UoD news<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Machine learning study<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

July 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michele uses machine learning to understand post-transcriptional controls in trypanosomatids: see Wellcome Open Research<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

precision-editing study<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

July 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work from Mark\u00e9ta shows how trypanosomes control polycistronic transcription: see Nature Communications<\/em><\/a> and UoD news<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fellowship election<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

May 2025
David elected to the Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences: see UoD news<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rupa Nagar joins the team<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

May 2025
Welcome to Rupa, who joins us following a post-doc with the Molecular Interactions team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melanie Ridgway \u2013 Lecturer in Parasitology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

April 2025
Melanie joined the lab as a post-doc in 2020 and, following excellent work in Dundee, has now taken up an independent position at the University of Adelaide. Congratulations Melanie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SPPIRIT publication in Trends in Parasitology<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

December 2024
Melanie, Marketa, and other Scottish Parasitology Partnership in Research, Innovation, and Training<\/em> members describe the network connecting early-career researchers \u2013 read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poster prize<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

25 October 2024
Congratulations to Mark\u00e9ta Novotn\u00e1 who was awarded a poster prize at the SPPIRIT symposium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gene regulation study<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

September 2024
Work from Anna and Michele shows how trypanosomes post-transcriptionally reprogramme gene expression: see Nature Communications<\/em><\/a>, SLS news<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KMCBM meeting in Woods Hole<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

September 2024
Four talks and four posters from the lab at the latest kinetoplastid meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Frederick Adrian Sprent Prize 2023<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

August 2024
Congratulation to Melanie Ridgway for winning the John Frederick Adrian Sprent prize<\/a> for her PhD thesis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marketa PhD success<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

March 2024
Congratulations to Mark\u00e9ta Novotn\u00e1 who successfully defended her PhD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drug resistance study<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

January 2024
Anna\u2019s work provides insights into purine analog resistance: see mSpher<\/em>e<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gene expression study<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

11 December 2023
Work from Joana, Michele & team shows how two tethered chromosomes boost VSG expression: see Nature Communications<\/a><\/em>, SLS news<\/a>, Behind the paper<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antigenic variation study<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

17 July 2023
Work from Douglas, Viktor & team shows how trypanosomes deploy VSGs economically: see PLoS Pathogens<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BSP meeting in Edinburgh<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

14 April 2023
Four talks and six posters from the lab at the latest BSP meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLS Innovator Award<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

2 February 2023
Simone, Sandra, Melanie, Anna, Michele, and Susan win Innovator Award<\/a> for Oligo Targeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2022<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

US conference<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

19 September 2022
Five talks from Gustavo, Melanie, Anna, Marketa & Joana (now in York) at the Kinetoplastid meeting in the US last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New cell cycle screen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

10 September 2022
Work from Cat, Melanie & Michele yields a new genome-scale cell cycle dataset: Nature Communications <\/em><\/a>\/ SLS news<\/a> \/ video<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 May 2022
Simone and team publish gene-editing method in Nucleic Acids Research<\/a><\/em>. See SLS news<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

27 April 2022
New W<\/em>CAIR funding<\/a> from April : David is Interim Director : See UoD<\/a>, SLS<\/a> news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VSG expression control<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

21 March 2022
Gustavo\u2019s work published in mSphere<\/a><\/em> provides proteomic insights into VSG control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BSP President\u2019s Medal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

4 March 2022
Joana Faria (now in York) has been awarded this prestigious medal<\/a> by the British Society for Parasitology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poster prize<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

28 February 2022
Shravya Murali awarded a Best Poster prize<\/a> for her Honours Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First person<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

12 February 2022
Interview<\/a> with Melanie Ridgway to accompany publication of her PhD work at the Australian National University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sir Henry Dale Fellowship<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

13 June 2021
Congratulations to Joana on the award of a Dale fellowship and Beit prize to be taken up at the University of York. See SLS<\/a> and WCAIR Dale<\/a>\/Beit<\/a> news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PhD award<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

2 April 2021
Congratulations to Viktor on a successful thesis defence and Ph.D. award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allelic exclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

11 January 2021
Joana\u2019s work reveals how nuclear organisation underpins antigenic variation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n