Dr Fatema Tuj Saima began her PhD studies in the Woodruff laboratory in 2019. Prior to this she completed a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh and a Master's in Medical Science from Yonsei University, South Korea. Her PhD project is investigating the role of peripheral immune activation in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease such as motor neuron disease. Her work is validating an ex-vivo whole blood assay for NLRP3 inflammasome activation from patient blood samples. She is also investigating the interplay between complement and other innate immune systems in neutrophils.