Development and endocrinology research group

Research interests in this theme range from protein structure to cell biology and to whole mammal physiology. They include developmental and reproductive biology, endocrinology and bioinformatics and systems biology.

Within endocrinology we are interested in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis ('reproductive axis'), the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis ('stress axis') and hormone-dependent breast cancer and endocrine disruptors. Within cell signalling we are interested in the role of protein structure, systems biology approaches to modelling cell signalling and the role of cell signalling pathways in the regulation of cell migration, cell death and immunology. Within developmental biology we are interested in skeletal muscle development, embryonic skeletal muscle growth and adult skeletal muscle function.

Further information about the research interests of individual staff members can be found in the table below.

Staff		Research Interests
Professor Ketan Patel		Head of Development and Endocrinology Developmental Biology, Skeletal muscle development. Adult skeletal muscle function, Embryonic skeletal muscle growth
Dr Andrew Bicknell		Endocrinology, Adrenal gland, Pituitary, Stress axis
Dr Philip Dash		Cell signalling, Cell Migration, Nitric oxide, Apoptosis
Dr Philippa Darbre		Breast cancer, Environmental oestrogens
Dr Michael Fry		Cell signalling, PI-3 kinase signalling, Proteomics & kinase signalling, GSK-3 & Wnt signalling in platelets
Professor Phil Knight		Reproductive biology, Endocrinology, Ovarian follicular development, Ovulation, Early embryo development
Dr Liam McGuffin		Bioinformatics, Molecular Systems Biology, Prediction of protein structures, functions and interactions
Dr Marcus Tindall		Systems biology, Mathematical modelling
Dr Kim Watson		Metabolic enzymes, ABC transporters, Protein crystallography, Computational Biology