People | Bannister Lab

Dr Kirsty Bannister BSc, MRes, PhD

Associate Professor / Principal Investigator

kirsty.bannister03@imperial.ac.uk

(She/Her)

I gained a BSc in Pharmacology at University College London (First Class Hons) before completing Master of Research and PhD degrees at Imperial College London. Subsequently, I returned to UCL as a post-doctoral researcher in Professor Anthony Dickenson’s Neuromodulation of Pain research group. Over 10 years I identified and characterised novel disease-induced alterations in descending modulatory pathways using multiple models of chronic pain and had two children. In 2017 I was awarded the EFIC IBSA publication prize and, fulfilling the London University ‘golden triangle’, I joined King’s College London as an Assistant Professor, Neuropharmacology. In 2025 I returned to Imperial College London as an Associate Professor, Neuroscience. My research team bridges the gap between bench and bedside pain research as we conduct exploratory experiments that seek to molecularly, anatomically and/or functionally define descending control pathways in animals and humans. I was awarded the 2022 Patrick D Wall prize for basic pain research from the International Association for the Study of Pain, and the 2023 Patrick D Wall award from the British Pain Society. I perform Editorial duties for Pain, Pain Reports, British Journal of Pharmacology and European Journal of Pain. I was an elected member of the Scientific Programme Committee (SPC) for IASP 2022 and 2024 World Pain Congresses and I will Chair the SPC for the 2026 World Pain Congress. I am an elected member of the SPC for the British Pain Society (2024-2026). I am a member of the EFIC Working Group for Translational Pain Research and Pain Research Strategy. In addition to directing a research strategy, I teach a range of Pharmacology and Neuroscience topics to University students.

Dr Ryan Patel BA, PhD

Research Fellow

(He/Him)

I read Natural Sciences at King’s College Cambridge before going on to complete a PhD under the supervision of Prof Tony Dickenson at UCL. In 2022 I was awarded the Prof Anthony Mellows Medal/King's Prize Fellowship. I have authored 30 research articles/reviews/book chapters in the fields of neurophysiology, neuropharmacology and pain modulation. My current work combines optogenetic, electrophysiological and behavioural approaches to identify top-down circuits that mediate descending control of pain. My research interests also include the bi-directional relationship between pain and co-morbid mood disorders. See more at: www.theneuraltap.co.uk.

Lucy Zhao BSc, MSc

PhD Student

(She/They)

I graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2019 with a BSc degree in Neuroscience and German. Funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), I moved on to complete an MSc degree in Molecular Biosciences (Neuroscience) at Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg in Germany in 2021. I am now a Wellcome Trust-funded Neuroimmunology PhD student co-supervised by Dr. Kirsty Bannister and Dr. Sam Norton. My project aims to investigate mental health and pain in patients with refractory rheumatoid arthritis.

Joseph Taylor BSc, MRes

PhD Student

(He/Him)

I am investigating the interaction between Secondary Hyperalgesia and Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM) in Humans. The goal is to better elucidate the extent to which CPM interacts with known spinal pain processing mechanisms. I have a background in Psychology and Visual Psychophysics, and am primarily interested in the subconscious processing that goes on between the body detecting a sensory signal and our conscious perception of what we are seeing, hearing, or in this case feeling.

Dr Zoe Rutter-Locher BSc, MBBS, MS

PhD Clinical Research Fellow

(She/Her)

I studied medicine at University College London and am a Rheumatology Registrar in the South London Deanery. Prior to commencing my registrar training I completed the NIHR Academic Foundation and Academic Clinical fellowship programmes. I am now an NIHR funded Clinical Research Fellow supervised by Professor Bruce Kirkham, Professor Leonie Taams and Dr Kirsty Bannister. My project aims to investigate pain mechanisms in inflammatory arthritis.

Zara Rehman BSc, MSc

PhD Student

(She/Her)

I completed my BSc in Psychology, Counselling, and Therapies at the University of Bedfordshire, followed by an MSc in Health Psychology at King's College London (KCL). As a Research Assistant at KCL, I contributed to projects focusing on parental substance use and chronic kidney disease. Currently, I'm pursuing a PhD funded by the NIHR, where I'm focusing on innovating a biopsychosocial assessment of chronic pain in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. I'm fortunate to be under the supervision of Dr. Kirsty Bannister, Dr. Whitney Scott, and Professor Ray Chaudhuri.

Michael Mansfield BSc, MSc

Affiliate Researcher

(He/Him)

I am a visiting researcher within the Bannister Laboratory. I am employed as a Lecturer in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham. My research interests include the detection and interpretation of nociception, through psychophysics methodologies, and how this may influence or interact with function, disability and prognosis across a range of patient populations and diseases. See more at: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4258-8247