TheLeeLab

Dr Emma Brock

Research Associate

Emma completed her undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of York. She continued there, undertaking a PhD in the Physics of Life group studying the motility characteristics of predatory bacteria Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. Emma is currently a postdoctoral research associate working in the Lee Lab in the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, Cambridge. She works as part of a multi-disciplinary team studying alpha synuclein protein aggregates in Parkinson's disease brain tissue. This project is funded by the Aligning Science Across Parkinson's: ASAP research network. 

Publications

Microglial Activation and Alpha-Synuclein Oligomers Drive the Early Inflammatory Phase of Parkinson's Disease
C Toomey, J Evans, M Grant-Peters, J Beckwith, R Popovic, J Breiter, J Brenton, A Fairbrother-Browne, S Strohbuecker, J Lachica, M Rodriguez-Lopez, E Brock, B Fu, L Nahidiazar, P Lopez-Garcia, R Ferguson, R Saleeb, H Lucas-Clarke, A Penverne, K D'sa, CW Pang, M Horrocks, M Vendruscolo, N Wood, S Lee, M Ryten, S Gandhi
NEUROPATHOLOGY AND APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY
(2026)
52
Neurodegeneration emerges at a cellular tipping point between aggregate accumulation and removal.
MW Cotton, S Venkatesan, JS Beckwith, D Böken, CK Xu, E Fertan, JC Breiter, LE Berkowicz, LS Salazar, A Von Schulze, EA Andrzejewska, EE Brock, HL Han, MM Schneider, DD Sahtoe, D Baker, JB Rowe, A Goriely, WA McEwan, TPJ Knowles, SF Lee, R Halfmann, D Klenerman, G Meisl
(2025)
(doi: 10.1101/2025.09.08.674880)
α-Synuclein driven cell susceptibility in Parkinson’s disease
S Lee, J Breiter, J Beckwith, E Brock, J Lachica, C Toomey, B Fu, M Ryten, L Weiss, N Wood, S Gandhi, M Vendruscolo
(2025)
(doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7375981/v1)
Large-scale visualisation of α-synuclein oligomers in Parkinson’s disease brain tissue
R Andrews, B Fu, CE Toomey, JC Breiter, J Lachica, JS Beckwith, R Tian, EE Brock, L-M Needham, GJ Chant, C Loiseau, A Deconfin, K Baspin, R Popovic, J Evans, Y Goh, B Kurt, L Senicar, M Edmonds, T Bartels, N Bengoa-Vergniory, PJ Magill, Z Jaunmuktane, OJ Freeman, BJM Taylor, J Hardy, T Lashley, M Ryten, M Vendruscolo, NW Wood, LE Weiss, S Gandhi, SF Lee
Nat Biomed Eng
(2025)
10
(doi: 10.1038/s41551-025-01496-4)
Species-specific surface dwell times and accumulation of microbes investigated by holographic microscopy
EE Brock, SA Matthews, EJ Cohen, S Nakamura, LG Wilson
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
(2025)
383
(doi: 10.1098/rsta.2024.0265)
Microglial activation and alpha-synuclein oligomers drive the early inflammatory phase of Parkinson’s disease
JR Evans, M Grant-Peters, JS Beckwith, CE Toomey, R Popovic, JC Breiter, JW Brenton, A Fairbrother-Browne, S Strohbuecker, J Lachica, M Rodriguez-Lopez, EE Brock, B Fu, L Nahidiazar, P Lopez-Garcia, R Ferguson, RS Saleeb, H Lucas-Clarke, A Penverne, K D’Sa, CW Pang, MH Horrocks, M Vendruscolo, N Wood, SF Lee, M Ryten, S Gandhi
(2025)
(doi: 10.1101/2025.08.25.671921)
α-Synuclein driven cell susceptibility in Parkinson’s disease
JC Breiter, JS Beckwith, EE Brock, J Lachica, CE Toomey, B Fu, M Ryten, LE Weiss, NW Wood, S Gandhi, M Vendruscolo, SF Lee
(2025)
(doi: 10.1101/2025.08.19.670819)
Evolution of a large periplasmic disk in Campylobacterota flagella enables both efficient motility and autoagglutination.
EJ Cohen, T Drobnič, DA Ribardo, A Yoshioka, T Umrekar, X Guo, J-J Fernandez, EE Brock, L Wilson, D Nakane, DR Hendrixson, M Beeby
Developmental cell
(2024)
59
(doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2024.09.008)
Real-time 3D tracking of swimming microbes using digital holographic microscopy and deep learning
SA Matthews, C Coelho, EE Rodriguez Salas, EE Brock, VJ Hodge, JA Walker, LG Wilson
PloS one
(2024)
19
(doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301182)
RASP: Optimal Single Puncta Detection in Complex Cellular Backgrounds
B Fu, E Brock, R Andrews, J Breiter, R Tian, C Toomey, J Lachica, T Lashley, M Ryten, N Wood, M Vendruscolo, S Gandhi, L Weiss, J Beckwith, S Lee
The Journal of Physical Chemistry B
(2024)
128
(doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c00174)

Postdoctoral researcher

Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry
Lensfield Road
Cambridge
CB2 1EW
T: +44 (0) 1223 336300
enquiries@ch.cam.ac.uk
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