Brief Bio
Science
I received my PhD in 1999 from University College London. The thesis described the characterization of the Purkinje-cell type dystrophin promoter and transcript. My first post-doc was with Prof. Steve Marston at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College studying mutations in troponin leading to Familial Dilated Cardiomyopathy. After that I worked briefly at Harvard University in the lab of Prof. Amin Arnaout, studying unusual DNA structures in the promoter of an integrin gene. I returned to Imperial College in 2002 to work with Dr. Clare Huxley on Mammalian Artificial Chromosomes and other episomal vectors. In 2006, I joined the lab of Professor Nicholas Fisk to investigate the non-viral modification of first trimester mesenchymal stem cells as well as the fate of those stem cells when engrafted in wild type mice. Since February 2008, I have been working with Professor Roger Smith and Dr. Jay Dudhia at the Royal Veterinary College on tendon differentiation using equine adult mesenchymal stem cells.