New members join Dr Peter Bankhead’s research group
Four new researchers have joined Dr Bankhead’s group in the last year.
Dr Pete Bankhead’s research group develops new methods and software to analyse complex biological and biomedical images. They are especially focussed on open science, and developing the popular QuPath open-source software for image analysis (QuPath (external)).
The Bankhead Research Group has been growing over the past year with four new members joining to work on projects funded by CZI (Essential Open Source Software for Science) and the Wellcome Trust (Technology Development Award), alongside a PhD student participating in the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Biomedical AI programme.
QuPath has been downloaded almost 400,000 times since its release in 2016 and is relied upon by researchers across the world to visualise and analyse their scientific images. The CZI project focusses on strengthening and supporting the core software, making it more powerful and easier to use. Alongside this, the Wellcome Trust grant will extend QuPath to address new challenges and analyse an even wider range of image types.
Fiona Inglis joined as a Research Software Engineer towards the end of 2022, and Thibaut Goldsborough began his PhD soon after.
Fiona explains “I've been part of the QuPath team since September 2022. With a background in whole slide scanning, image analysis and software development it helps me see both the users' and developers' perspectives of the software. Using this, I hope to improve the overall user experience for new and existing QuPath users.”
Thibaut describes his background and PhD research and follows “I have a background in biology and mathematics, I’m now pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD to develop accessible and efficient deep learning models for detecting cells and nuclei across a wide range of tissues and imaging modalities.”
In April 2023, Léo Leplat and Alan O’Callaghan became part of the team.
Léo Lepalt - “Hi, my name is Léo, I previously worked as a Research Assistant for the Norwegian University NTNU and have just started a new job for the University of Edinburgh as a Research Software Engineer. I will focus on maintaining and developing the QuPath software by improving existing features, adding new ones, and supporting QuPath's users.”
Alan O’Callaghan - “Hi! I’m Alan. I have previously been a post-doctoral researcher at the MRC Biostatistics Unit and before I earned my PhD in the MRC Human Genetics Unit. I have a background in bioinformatics and biostatistics, and I'm excited to apply this to expanding the types of research that QuPath can help with and improving the existing analysis workflows.”
The most recent new group member is postdoctoral researcher Laura Nicolás Sáenz, who started in June 2023.
Laura Nicolás Sáenz - “I’m Laura, and I am a postdoc researcher in biomedical image analysis and artificial intelligence. I completed my PhD at Universidad Carlos III, in Madrid, where I focused on developing novel tools for colour analysis and image registration in microscopy. I’ve joined the QuPath team because I want to pursue open and accessible science for the wider community.”
Completing the group, Pau Carrillo Barberà has been a visiting scientist since the beginning of 2022.
Pau Carrillo Barberà - “My name is Pau Carrillo. Trained as a biologist, my PhD focused on bioimage analysis practical applications for the study of adult neurogenesis. I joined the Bankhead group as a visiting researcher. Currently I'm working on developing new tools for the analysis of myelin in electron microscopy images.”