Laboratory of Mammalian Molecular Embryology
Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, England
Overview of research interests
• The start of embryo transcription
• Cell cycle resumption after fertilisation
• Embryo chromatin remodeling
• Force changes inside the new embryo
• The one cell embryo as an interface
Applications of our work
•Cancer and stem cell biology
•Transgenesis and genome editing
• Nano-/ Mechanobiology
• Xenotransplantation (pigs)
• Genetic code expansion
A fundamental transformation establishes totipotency, but its nature remains obscure. We would like a better understanding of the mechanisms that drive the transformation ("What happens here?"). Such an understanding is expected to facilitate the safe manipulation of cellular processes involved in biological regeneration.
Mouse eggs that have been injected with a sperm head. a. Hoffman modulation microscopy 6h and b, immunofluorescence following sperm head injection at the times indicated, showing DNA (left) and the chromatin protein, histone H1. Black arrowheads show where the chromosomes lay, just under the egg surface; white arrowheads show uneven chromatin colonization by H1. The paternal genome is highly depleted of protein after 40 min. Bar = 5 um.