Kseniia Bondarenko | postdoc 

Ksena completed her BSc and MSc in Chemistry in Ukraine, followed by an Erasmus Mundus MSc in Chemical Engineering, where she first encountered the fascinating intersection of chemistry and neuroscience—growing neurons on chemical substrates. This inspired her to pursue a PhD combining these fields. 

A year later, she was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at the University of Leicester to study the origins of tinnitus and hearing loss. Her research employed a range of neat techniques, including poking neurons with electrodes (electrophysiology), controlling genetically modified ion channels with light (using photo-switchable ligands), and mapping protein location using regular and advanced imaging. During this time, she came across expansion microscopy—a super-resolution method that physically enlarges biological samples—and applied it to reveal the location of her protein of interest in synaptic sites within the auditory brainstem, successfully completing her PhD. Shortly after, Ksena joined the Young Lab at the University of Edinburgh, to the study of Toxoplasma gondii (arguably the most beautiful of parasites), uncovering parasite hidden biology using an array of molecular biology and super-resolution imaging techniques. 

Outside the lab, Ksena can be found surfing, participating in medieval re-enactment, and exploring Scotland’s landscapes in search of perfect aerial photography spots.