About Us

Principal Investigator

Chris H. Hill

Chris is a structural and molecular biologist with a background in X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM and RNA biology. He's interested in the regulation of viral gene expression -  particularly in how RNA viruses 'break the rules' when they execute their own genetic code. 

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Tim C. Passchier

Tim is originally from the Netherlands and joins us as a Wellcome-funded postdoctoral research associate with a broad background in structural and molecular virology gained at the Universities of Utrecht, Oxford, and Leeds. In the Hill lab he will be investigating virus-induced ribosomal recoding through structural and molecular approaches.

PhD student

Miguel Aracena Velázquez

Miguel is originally from Bolivia, but has lived most of his life abroad. He has a background in Biochemistry, and industry experience from his time at Oxford Nanopore Technologies. He is very excited to join the Hill Lab to begin his PhD project on investigating the structural and mechanistic basis of translation initiation in enteroviruses. Miguel is supported by the BBSRC White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership in Mechanistic Biology.  

PhD student

Jemma Betts

Jemma has a background in structural and molecular protein biochemistry. After working at UCL studying the structures of infectious prions, Jemma is very excited to join the Hill lab and begin her PhD, investigating RNA-protein interactions that stimulate programmed ribosomal frameshifting during viral infection. She is enthusiastic to apply her experience with cryo-EM to her PhD project. Jemma is supported by the MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership.  

PhD student

Ella Warren

Ella has a background in protein biochemistry and structural biology, having worked on the poxviral DNA packaging machinery during her Masters degree at the University of York. Ella joined the Hill lab to investigate structural RNA elements in the foot-and-mouth disease virus genome, and the mechanistic basis of their contributions to viral replication. Ella is supported by funding from the Pirbright Institute, the Department of Biology at York, and the school of Physics, Engineering and Technology at York. 

PhD student

Helena Dolan

Helena has a background in molecular biology and a longstanding fascination with RNA. Her interest began during a summer studentship at the University of Sussex investigating non-coding RNA, and was further developed through her work on the manufacturing of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) vaccines. She is excited to join the Hill Lab to explore how viral RNA structural elements influence programmed ribosomal frameshifting. Helena is supported by the BBSRC Yorkshire Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership (YBDTP).

PhD student

James Law

James has a background in biophysical sciences and a deep fascination with the molecular mechanisms and behaviours underlying human diseases. Having previously worked on the molecular dynamics of Protein-DNA interactions responsible for biofilm stability (Master's degree, University of York), James is very excited to join the Hill Lab to investigate the structural and mechanistic behaviours of the large Cloverleaf and cre–3C–3CD complex, which govern enterovirus replication. James is supported by the MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership.  

Visiting PhD student

Leon Walther

Leon joined us in 2025 as part of a new collaboration with Joana Faria's group in Biology at York. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Konstanz, Germany, with research experiences in New Zealand, CSSB Hamburg and EMBL Grenoble. There, he discovered his passion for neglected tropical diseases and now aims to use structural insights to advance drug discovery. He focuses on structurally and functionally characterizing key factors involved in monoallelic VSG expression in African trypanosomes.