The LARP Society Story
LARP Society was founded as a UK Registered Charity in 2010 to support research into LARP proteins and has hosted biennial conferences nationally and internationally since it was founded in 2010. The talks cover broad aspects of translation to species-specific processes.
Meet the
Team
The LARP Society (LARPSOC) Executive Committee comprises a fantastic team of RNA biologists from across the globe that jointly share a passion for La and La-related proteins. The LARPSOC Committee includes a number of elected and appointed roles. Please see below for committee member information.
President
Andrea Berman
Dr. Berman received her Ph.D. in 2007 with Tom Steitz at Yale University, performed her postdoctoral studies with Tom Cech at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and joined the Department in 2012.
Deputy President
Mark Bayfield
Dr. Mark Bayield is a professor in the Department of Biology at York University. He was previously a post-doctoral fellow at National Institutes of Health (NIH) and received a doctorate from Brown University.
Secretary
Daniel Jarosz
Dr. Jarosz is an Associate Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology and of Developmental Biology at Stanford University. He was previously a post-doctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research and completed his PhD training at MIT.
Treasurer
Sarah Blagden
Dr. Blagden is clinician scientist with a fascination for clinical trials, mRNA and understanding (and preventing) the process of cancer development. Sarah is presently director of Oxford’s Cancer Trials Office (OCTO) and research group lead at the University of Oxford.
Co-Treasurer
Faraz Mardakheh
Dr. Mardakheh is a principal investigator with the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford. He was previously a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Cancer Research (UK), and completed his PhD training at the University of Birmingham.
Website Designer
Connor Loupelle
Connor is a PhD student in Dr. Mark Bayfield's lab at York University studying the roles of the human La protein in promoting tRNA maturation and its links to oncogenesis. He received his B.Sc. in Biomedical Science at York University.
Website Designer
Kendra Perez-Smith
Kendra completed a double Master in Public Health and Reproductive Medicine (excellence) in Australia. She joined Professor Sarah Blagden's Laboratory in a dual post: Research Assistant/ Laboratory Manager.
Postdoctoral Representative
Sathyen Prabhu
Dr. Prabhu is a postdoctoral associate in the Berman Lab at the University of Pittsburgh. He completed his PhD training with the Miller Lab at McGill University in 2023.
PhD Student Representative
Brittney Remnant
Brittney is a PhD student in Dr. Mark Bayfield’s lab at York University. She is investigating the La protein Mlp1 in Tetrahymena thermophila and its involvement in the biogenesis of non-coding RNAs.
PhD Student Representative
Alexander Colton
Alex is a postgraduate oncological research student at the University of Oxford studying towards a DPhil (PhD) in Oncology within the Blagden lab of the University of Oxford and the Lilley lab of the University of Cambridge.