Personal Statement
I undertook a BSc in Pharmacology (Liverpool; 2003-2006) followed by a PhD studying the regulation of NF-kB signalling in live-cells (Liverpool; 2006-2010) with Prof. Mike White (currently in Manchester). I then moved to the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge to undertake postdoctoral work with Professor Alfonso Martinez Arias (currently in UPF Barcelona), using mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) as a model system to study cell fate dynamics during early mammalian development. My work initially focussed on the decision to exit pluripotency, and transition towards differentiated fates using live, single cell imaging. All this work was performed in standard 2D tissue culture protocols, but we subsequently developed a novel protocol which permitted us to study these cell-fate lineage decisions in a more physiologically-relevant, 3D model system: gastruloids.

In 2017, I was awarded a David Sainsbury NC3Rs fellowship to use the gastruloid model system to study Left-Right Asymmetry in mammalian development. I then joined the University of Liverpool in 2019 to take up a Tenure-Track Fellowship in the Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease where I am continuing my work in understanding the processes governing cell fate decisions in early mammalian development.

Research Overview
Our lab's interests lie in taking quantitative fixed and live-cell approaches to understand cell decision-making processes during early development. We use mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) to study these processes in 2D and 3D Gastruloid culture. Gastruloids are aggregates of mESCs generated in non-adherent culture, which are able to effectively recapitulate many of the processes of early mammalian development such as symmetry-breaking, polarisation, gastrulation-like movements and the development of the three embryonic axes. Crucially, Gastruloids are easy to generate, can be experimentally manipulated with ease, and can be used to ask questions which are exceptionally difficult or impossible to address in the embryo.