PEOPLE
David J. Hodson
THE BOSS
David trained as a Veterinary Surgeon at the University of Bristol before commencing PhD studies on the seasonal regulation of fertility with Dr Domingo Tortonese. Following postdoctoral studies on the hypothalamo-pituitary axis with Dr Patrice Mollard at the Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle in Montpellier, France, David moved to Imperial College London where he set up a group devoted to diabetes research. In 2016, David joined the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research at the University of Birmingham where he leads the Islet Biology Group. Most recently, the lab has moved to the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Oxford. The major aims of the group are to develop novel tools and imaging approaches to understand how alpha, beta and delta cells, which reside within the islet, release hormone to maintain normal glucose levels during health and disease.
Katrina Viloria
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER
Katrina is a BTS Army who grew up in the Philippines. Her family later decided to voyage to the last frontier and moved to Alaska when she was 13 years old. In Alaska she explored her love for science and pursued an undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Alaska Anchorage. It was during this time she landed a summer internship with the NIDDK, and learned about diabetes as her first lab experience. Her quest for knowledge and travel brought her to Kingston University London where she acquired a Masters in Biotechnology. Here she met Dr. Natasha Hill with whom she undertook a summer project studying matricellular proteins. After enjoying research work, fish and chips and afternoon tea, she decided to stay in England and continue her work in Kingston to pursue a PhD investigating SPARC matricellular proteins and their role in beta cell function. Katrina’s thirst for adventure lead her to the University of Birmingham where she joined Prof. David Hodson’s #hodsquad as a postdoc to uncover the role of GC-globulin in glucagon-secreting alpha cells. The lab later moved to OCDEM University of Oxford where she continues to study the role of GC-globulin, this time in GLP1-R regulation. Currently, Katrina enjoys her time in England, discovering new places to run and hike. Apart from finding the cure to diabetes, next on her bucket list is to run the 6 Abbott World Major Marathons.
katrina.viloria@ocdem.ox.ac.uk
Ali Shilleh
NOVO NORDISK POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW
Ali is a proud Serbestinian, born in Serbia and raised in Ramallah, West Bank Palestine. In 2014, Ali recieved his B.S in biochemistry at Umass Boston in Boston, MA and went on to complete an M.S in Nutrition and Biomedicine at the Technical University of Munich in Munich, Germany under the supervision of Dr. Henrietta Uhlenhaut’s lab at the Institute of Diabetes and Obesity at Helmholtz Zentrum. His thesis studied the role of TR2 and TR4, orphan hormone nuclear receptors, in glucose homeostasis and lipid metabolism. Ali then worked as a research assistant for 9 months at Dr. Holger Russ’s Lab at the Barbara Davis centre, University of Colorado Anschutz Campus, and joined the same lab as a PhD student in 2017. His work at the Russ Lab focused on determining the fate of primary human beta cells and stem cell derived beta-like cells (sBC) upon transplantation. These studies were geared toward improving sBC survival in vivo and promote cell therapy for T1D treatment. Recently, Ali joined the Hodsquad as a Novo Nordisk postdoctoral fellow to further understand GLP1R signaling in beta cells and explore the potential use of GL1R agonists for gene therapy applications for T2D diabetic patients. In his free time he loves to ski (especially in Oxford), rock climb, hike, run, walk his dog (Crni) and travel with his partner and daughter, Zayta.
Kaja Rupar
CARLSBERG POSTDOCTORAL VISITING FELLOW
Kaja, originally from Slovenia, is a cell biologist and biochemist with a passion for understanding how cells work and what goes wrong in disease. She completed her PhD at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, where she studied metabolism and obesity. She has worked across several labs in Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, and the UK — collecting techniques, collaborators and rain jackets along the way. After her PhD, she joined David's group at OCDEM, where she is studying the function of a GPCR recently discovered in human islets, employing high-resolution microscopy along with various cell-based and biochemical assays. She enjoys diving into new technical challenges and has a soft spot for troubleshooting protocols that refuse to cooperate. Whether she is peering through a microscope at cells or through her telescope at the planets, she is happiest exploring the invisible worlds that shape us. Her favourite adventures are the ones she shares with her two small kids.
Sarah Armour
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER
Sarah grew up in Hertfordshire before moving to Newcastle for her undergraduate degree to study Biochemistry. Loving the friendly people and lively city, she remained there throughout her Masters and PhD, where she was introduced to the world of islet biology, working with Professor James Shaw on beta cell transdifferentiation. In 2019, Sarah moved to Copenhagen to work as a postdoc in the Knudsen lab investigating alpha cell metabolism and glucagon secretion…. and to surround herself with delicious Danish pastries. She remained in Denmark until late 2023 when she returned to the UK and joined the #hodsquad in the summer of 2024. Aside from a love of islet biology, Sarah is a keen baker (and eater) of cakes and pastries, loves music, enjoys a good pub quiz, and will talk to anyone who will listen about Harry Potter.
Charlotte Frazer-Morris
PHD STUDENT
Charlotte is Birmingham born and raised, but moved to Oxford in 2018 to complete an integrated masters degree in Biochemistry. Despite initially adamant that she hated Biochemistry, she fell in love with lipid metabolism and began a research project at OCDEM with a rival Hodson group. This project focused on intrahepatic fatty acid metabolism, providing an in vitro recapitulation of an ongoing human physiological study. Charlotte graduated from the University of Oxford and began as a technician at the University of Westminster, managing their clean room and tissue culture facility. Whilst she missed hands-on research and had heard that an even cooler Hodsquad had moved into OCDEM, it was ultimately the tube at 9AM that drove her to return to Oxford. Aside from following Kat around the lab or having IT crises, her hobbies include pottery, live music and open mic nights at the Harcourt arms.
Anne de Bray
PHD STUDENT - MRC CRTF
Born and raised in Northamptonshire, Annie moved to Birmingham to complete her medical degree. She became interested in diabetes and endocrinology during her undergraduate studies and upon graduating in 2012, chose to remain in the West Midlands for postgraduate training and focus upon learning about and teaching diabetes and endocrinology to peers and medical students. She spent a wonderful year as a clinical teaching fellow, gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education and entered specialty training in 2017. Following her 3 years as an Academic Clinical Fellow she obtained an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship where she is developing novel fluorescent probes for diabetes and metabolic research. When she is not getting confused by calculations, she enjoys creating hygge by playing board games, petting local cats and going on adventures with her husband and young son.
Jason Tong
PHD STUDENT
In 2020, Jason left the coastal cities of Sydney and Hong Kong, where he grew up, to settle in one of the furthest inland cities in Britain (he has since come to value the charm of rivers). At Oxford, he delights in wearing fancy attire for formal hall, punting on the Cherwell, cycling through the “Dreaming Spires,” and photographing all life’s moments. His enthusiasm for these pursuits is only matched by his passion for all-things microscopy. He began his research career at the University of Sydney with Professor Peter Thorn, focusing on live-cell imaging and STED microscopy, before coming to Oxford, where he has joined the HodSquad for his DPhil to add new super-resolution imaging techniques to his belt. His work employs novel molecular probes and advanced imaging to explore islet signalling through incretin receptors GLP1R and GIPR. Between optimising his imaging experiments, he can often be seen lurking around the snacks shelf, contemplating life’s “struggles”
Lottie Clinton
RESEARCH TECHNICIAN
Lottie is from the Cotswolds and enjoys playing netball and paddle boarding at the Lakes in her free time. Whilst her education and research background is focused on cancer, more specifically breast cancer research and how the tumour microenvironment can propagate tumour development, she delved into the world of T1DM with the Hodson group as a Research Technician. Here her research focuses on developing GPCR based methodologies to trigger alpha to beta trans-differentiation as a potential beta cell regenerative approach for treating patients with T1D. She is currently optimizing the delivery of a small molecule chromatin modulator into pancreatic beta cells using GPCR agonists. She is due to start her DPhil studies at the University of Oxford in October 2025 where she will be investigating breast cancer metastasis and the role of MAFF and will miss the HodSquad bunch so much so she may still have to tag along to their lab days out 😉
Helen Westra
VISITING MSC BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES STUDENT
Helen comes from the land of bikes in the north of the Netherlands. So when she heard Oxford was also known as a cycling city, it felt like destiny. Or at least like a good excuse not to figure out British public transport. She started her Biomedical Sciences degree in 2020 at the University of Groningen and stuck around for a master’s in Food and Nutrition. During her first year, she worked at the pediatrics department at the UMCG, researching a kinase involved in stress-related beta-cell dysfunction in type 1 diabetes. Now in the second year of her master, Helen has taken her research abroad and joined the Hodson Lab. She’s helping out with Charlotte’s DPhil project and looking into how circadian rhythms affect beta-cell function by focussing on actin remodeling. Outside the lab, Helen stays active with running and strength training, partly for fun, partly to outsmart her type 1 diabetes.
ASSOCIATED RESEARCHERS
Daniela Nasteska
DIABETES UK RD LAWRENCE FELLOW
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR - NASTESKA GROUP
Daniela is a Macedonian enjoying the UK life since 2016. She trained as a doctor of medicine in Macedonia before fully transitioning to scientific research in Japan. While there, she earned her PhD in medicine from the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Nutrition at Kyoto University, focusing on incretin (GIP) pathophysiology. Her previous research includes investigating premature beta cell death during her time at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Brussels, Belgium, and doing a deep dive in transcriptional beta cell heterogeneity in the Hodson lab at the University of Birmingham, UK.
These days, Daniela is a principal investigator at OCDEM finding her own niche by starting to look into protein synthesis dynamics in islets and its importance in type 2 diabetes. While now working separately from David’s current team line up, she still keeps the bond strong by supervising PhD students and providing expertise when needed.
daniela.nasteska@ocdem.ox.ac.uk
Nasteska group website: https://www.rdm.ox.ac.uk/about/our-divisions/oxford-centre-for-diabetes-endocrinology-and-metabolism/oxford-centre-for-diabetes-endocrinology-and-metabolism-research/nasteska-group
ALUMNI
Nick Fine
PHD STUDENT-RESEARCH TECHNICIAN
2021
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Federica Cuozzo
PHD STUDENT-RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
2017-2022
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Lewis Everett
MRes STUDENT
2017-2019
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Alice O'Donnell
SUMMER STUDENT
2019
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Annie Hasib
POSTDOC
2022
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Hannah R. Smith
A.T. TRUST STUDENT
2021
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Maria Jimenez Ramos
ERASMUS STUDENT
2019
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Nicholas Folidis
SUMMER STUDENT
2018​
Julia Ast
POSTDOC
2022
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Fiona Ashford
POSTDOC
2017-2020
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Claudio Zoppi
VISITING RESEARCH FELLOW
2019
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Anastasia Arvaniti
RESEARCH TECHNICIAN
2016-2018