I’m Lovely Monney, a PhD student in the Knight group at Queen Mary University of London. I’m originally from Paris in France, where I discovered my passion for cell biology in high school. I went on to study Life and Health Biology at the University of Créteil, then completed a Master’s in Integrative Biology and Physiology at Sorbonne University in Paris. After my studies, I worked as a research associate in the pharmaceutical industry, first at UCB Pharma in Belgium, then at Pierre Fabre in France. Those experiences reinforced my desire to dive deeper into research and contribute to scientific discoveries with real-world impact.
Now based in London, in the Knight group, I work in the Centre for Predictive in vitro Models (CPM), a world-leading hub for organ-on-chip and advanced in vitro systems. Our aim is to develop better models for understanding disease and improving drug discovery without relying on animal testing.
In my PhD project, I study primary cilia,t tiny finger-like projections that extend from the surface of most cell in the body, especially in organs like the kidney and intestine. Once considered useless, they are now recognised as essential for sensing the environment and regulating key signalling pathways. If you are wondering what primary cilia look like, have a look at Figure 1 below. It brings together three different ways of visualising these fascinating structures.
Figure 2: A closer look at primary cilia in kidney cells
(a)Scanning electron micrograph of kidney epithelial cells in a collecting duct, each with a visible primary cilium (adapted from Kessel and Kardon, with permission from Randy H. Kardon).
(b) Immunofluorescence image of kidney epithelial cells stained for acetylated tubulin (green, marking the axoneme), γ-tubulin (magenta, marking the basal body), and DAPI (blue, marking nuclei).
(c) Schematic of primary cilium structure, highlighting the 9+0 axoneme arrangement.
When cilia do not function properly, it can lead to ciliopathies, a group of disorders that affect many organs. One example is polycystic kidney disease (PKD), where kidney cells develop fluid-filled lumps that disrupt the normal structure and function of the kidney.
I’m especially interested in how inflammation and mechanical stress (like fluid flow) influence the expression and polarity of primary cilia in kidney epithelial cells. Polarity refers to how a cell is organised, helping it know where to place certain structures. This includes deciding when and where a cilium should appear on the cell surface to sense the environment effectively. To do this, To study this, I will be using organ-on-chip systems, miniaturised devices that replicate the structure and function of real organs. These models allow us to simulate disease-like conditions in the lab and gain new insights into how cilia behave in both health and disease.
I am truly honoured to be part of the SurfEx network. It’s an exciting opportunity to collaborate across Europe, learn new techniques, and contribute to cutting-edge research on epithelial surfaces and their role in human health.
