Pathway Journey
MRes Rotations:
1. The histone lysine demethylase KDM5B regulates gene expression during hippocampus dependent learning
2. Development of a traceable in vitro model of adipogenesis to assess the m6A-methylome during differentiation
3. Deciphering the role of intragenic transcription in alternative transcript regulation during neurogenesis
PhD Project:
Utilising an imprinted locus to study the interplay between intragenic transcription and alternative polyadenylation
Biography
I did my undergraduate (BSc) at the University of Leeds in Biochemistry and also completed an integrated masters (MBIOL) working on epigenetic regulation in?C.elegans. After spending two years in the scientific publishing industry at Springer Nature, I was drawn back to working in science.
The MRC DTP offered me a chance to ease myself back into the research environment after coming right out of a completely different role via the 1+3 pathway.
The rotations allowed me to find out the questions I am most interested in within the field, figure out which project is the best fit for me and settle back into research. For my PhD project, I am using imprinted loci as a model to understand tissue-specific mechanisms of gene expression under the supervision of Prof. Rebecca Oakey and Dr. Rocio Martinez-Nunez. Alongside my research activities, I am also part of the King’s College London Carpentries team which provides coding lessons for those new to programming.
Publications
Cain JA, Montibus B and Oakey RJ (2022) Intragenic CpG Islands and Their Impact on Gene Regulation. Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 10:832348. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.832348
Awards
April 2022: MRC DTP Symposium – Best Poster for Scientific Content
Conferences
28/09/20 – 01/10/20: Genomic Imprinting – from Biology to Disease; Poster & Flash talk [online]
29/05/21 – 29/05/21: KCL BMBS Student Symposium; Poster & Flash talk [online]
24/06/21 – 27/06/21: CSH – Eukaryotic mRNA Processing; Poster [online]
31/06/21 – 03/07/21: CSH – Mechanisms of Eukaryotic Transcription; Poster [online]
13/12/21 – 13/12/21: Epigenesys; Poster & Flash talk [online]
11/04/22 – 13/04/22: Genetics Society, Functional Regulatory Genomics and Disease; Poster & Flash talk