Research
Supervisor: Dr John James
I am currently working to better understand how the pre-T cell receptor (TCR) differs at a molecular and mechanistic level during early thymocyte development and β-selection checkpoint. Utilising a reconstituted pre-TCR system to manipulate signalling in both HEK293T cells and in vitro differentiated thymocytes with lentiviral transduction followed by flow cytometry and microscopy I determine the cellular localisation and developmental effects of TCR complexes.
Supervisor: Dr Martin Turner
I am interested in the role of post-transcriptional mechanisms that govern and control early T-cell differentiation. The Turner lab has previously created a conditional double knock-out of two RNA binding proteins; Tis11b (Zfp36l1) and Tis11d (Zfp36l2). This conditional dKO develops a severe T-acute lymphoblastic like leukaemia (T-ALL) like disease but has perturbed thymic development prior to disease onset. My PhD project is focussing on the mechanisms behind the control of early thymocyte differentiation and development by these RNA binding proteins.
