June 2024
We are recruiting!
Interested in the molecular mechanisms underpinning tissue repair and inflammation?
We have a 3-year Postdoctoral Position available in the lab funded by generous support from the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine.
See the advert here.
December 2023
Our latest paper is out in Nature Communications!
Spatially resolved metabolism in complex tissues is vital but poorly understood.
Here, we establish the Drosophila renal system as a paradigm for linking mechanistic analysis of metabolism at single-cell resolution to organ-wide physiology.
Read about it here.
December 2023
Congratulations to Jack Holcombe for completing his PhD!
Enormous congratulations to Jack! You've spearheaded some fascinating projects - enjoy celebrating, your success is very well deserved!
We're very grateful to Jack's brilliant examiners Prof Ian Collinson and Dr Barry Denholm for thought-provoking discussion.
November 2023
Congratulations to Tua Karling for completing her PhD!
Well done Tua on a fascinating project and a great defence - your success is very well deserved!
We're very grateful to Tua's wonderful external examiners Prof Joerg Renkawitz and Dr Elena Scarpa for insightful comments and a stimulating discussion.
July 2023
Congratulations to Jake Turley for completing his PhD!
Jake successfully defended his PhD thesis! You can read more about Jake's PhD work here.
We're super grateful to his external examiners Prof Yanlan Mao and Prof Jacques Prost for a great discussion.
Well done Jake - we're so proud of you and all that you've achieved! Enjoy your travels before starting your new Post-doc in Singapore!
July 2023
Welcome to our new Summer Students!
We're excited to have 3 wonderful undergraduate students joining us for vacation research projects this year!
We're very grateful to the British Society for Cell Biology (BSCB), the British Society for Developmental Biology (BSDB) and the University of Bristol's RESURG programme for their generous support and funding.
June 2023
The Lister Prize 2023
We're thrilled and honoured that Helen is one of six new Fellows selected for the 2023 Lister Prize by The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine!
You can read more about the Lister Prize and the new 2023 Fellows here.
May 2023
New paper from the lab!
Enormous congratulations to lab post-doc Giuliana for her recent paper uncovering a key role for the transcription factor Nrf2 during immune surveillance, not only to prevent premature immune senescence but to limit non-autonomous collateral damage to surrounding non-immune tissues.
Read it here. We're delighted our paper was also chosen for a J Cell Biol Spotlight "Macrophage Nrf 2 the rescue" here.
Spring 2023
Registration is OPEN for our Royal Society Scientific Meeting "Tissue Resilience in Health & Disease"
April 26-27 2023, Manchester REGISTER HERE
Most animal and plant tissues have an intrinsic ability to withstand day-to-day stress, but many also exhibit extraordinary adaptive responses to stress that drive increased ‘resilience’ against further insult.
This inter-disciplinary meeting will showcase cutting-edge research from basic scientists and clinicians exploring the mechanistic basis and translational potential of these remarkable phenomena, including the role of diet, ageing and biomechanics.
September 2022
We are advertising a MRC GW4 PhD studentship for a 2023 start!
We have an exciting, inter-disciplinary PhD project available on the brilliant MRC-funded GW4 DTP Programme for a September 2023 start. If you're interested in exploring the impact of microplastics on human and animal tissues, including the immune system, then please check out our project description here!
We will integrate in vivo animal models with in vitro analyses of human cells, and engage with chemists to test novel bioplastic alternatives. Please contact us if you'd like to hear more about our ideas!
July 2022
A bumper week: PhD students Tua, Jack and Beth win prizes for their research talks!
Huge congratulations to PhD students Tua Karling and Jack Holcombe, who this week were awarded first and runner up prizes (respectively) in our Department's 3rd year PhD Research Talks. Beth Sawyer, another PhD student in the lab, was also awarded first prize for her 3MT talk at the Summer NC3Rs Conference.
Very well done to you all!
April 2022
Our image featured on the cover of Development!
We are delighted to have contributed to the special issue in Development on "The Immune System in Development and Regeneration" by providing an image for the cover entitled 'phagocytosis-in-action'.
Using live confocal microscopy in vivo, the image captures Drosophila macrophages in the process of clearing apoptotic corpses during tissue sculpting in embryonic development.
April 2022
Our latest review on tissue resilience is out!
We're honoured to have been invited to contribute to this month's special issue on "Hormesis and Dose Response" for Current Opinion in Toxicology.
In our review "The role of preconditioning in the development of resilience: Mechanistic insights" we discuss the latest advances in our understanding of the remarkable phenomenon known as 'preconditioning'.
April 2021
We are recruiting a MRC-funded post-doc - available for a July 2021 start!
We have a new MRC-funded Post-doctoral position available in the Weavers and Martin labs at the University of Bristol, for someone with a keen interest in studying the mechanisms underlying immune cell extravasation from vessels to wounds. This is an exciting opportunity to work on an interdisciplinary and cross-institutional project in collaboration with Prof Sussan Nourshargh (QMUL, where a related post-doc position is also available for murine studies here) and Bristol Population Health.
Applications are now open! Please see our advert here.
April 2021
Our new paper on stress resilience in metabolically-active renal tissues is out!
We're thrilled to share our latest study on how metabolically active renal tissues in Drosophila resist endogenous oxidative and genotoxic insults. Online today in Development!
Read it here! Also see the Research Highlight on our study "Stressing the importance of cytoprotection during development".
November 2020
We are recruiting a fully-funded 3 year PhD student for a 2021 start!
We're thrilled that we have been awarded a NC3Rs PhD studentship (see the news release here) to work on a multi-disciplinary project studying chronic inflammatory lung conditions. Please see our online advertisement here.
Please contact us directly if you are interested in chatting about this exciting new project!
September 2020
Two new PhD students in the lab!
We're delighted that we have two brilliant students joining the lab this term for their PhDs - Tua Karling and Harry Young welcome to the team!
We had socially distanced drinks outside in the beautiful gardens to celebrate!
6 July 2020
Our new review is out!
After many years in the making....interrupted by fellowship applications and setting up the new lab....delighted that our review on "The Cell Biology of Inflammation" is published!
https://rupress.org/jcb/article/219/7/e202004003/151857/The-cell-biology-of-inflammation-From-common
18 November 2019
Our image on the cover!
Thrilled that we have got our image on the front cover of this week's Current Biology! This issue has our new paper on the mechanisms driving injury-induced tissue 'resilience' too!
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)31197-2
24 October 2019
Our new study is online!
We're excited that our new paper on the mechanisms driving injury-induced tissue 'resilience' is now out online in Current Biology!
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)31197-2
21 October 2019
Our new PhD student Jack Holcombe starts!
Jack has moved into the world of fruitflies after a Masters year in St Andrews studying regeneration in Amphioxus! Jack is now a PhD student funded by the Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust and a member of the GW4 MRC-funded Doctoral Training Programme.
23 September 2019
Our new Masters students Tua and Emma start!
Tua recently completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Manchester, where she was introduced to the wonders of Drosophila! Tua is now studying immune cell migration in complex 3D environments as an MRes student.
Emma is studying for her MSci degree here in the School of Biochemistry and gaining some research experience with us using lots of live-imaging and genetics in Drosophila.
2 July 2019
Invited seminar at the UK Cell Adhesion Society Meeting!
Medical School, University of Birmingham
Another brilliant day hearing many inspiring talks and meeting new potential collaborators!
11 June 2019
Invited seminar at the Royal Society Meeting of Minds!
Brilliant day hearing lots of exciting, inspiring talks and meeting new potential collaborators!
15 April 2019
Invited seminar in the "Pioneers in Cell Dynamics and Imaging" Series at the University of Munster!
Wonderful trip hearing about lots of cutting-edge research and exploring this beautiful city!
5 April 2019
Invited seminar at the Immunological Memory Conference!
British Society for Immunology, Kings College London
Brilliant day hearing lots of exciting, inspiring talks!
9 February 2019
Meeting new potential students at the University of Bristol UCAS Open Day!
We had posters, microscopes and even fluorescent fruit flies!
October 2018
2 exciting PhD projects for October 2019 start!
Interested in state-of-the-art live imaging and genetic approaches in Drosophila and want to learn techniques in human genetic epidemiology?
We have 2 exciting PhD projects available on the GW4 BioMed DTP and South West Biosciences DTP PhD schemes for someone with a keen interest in developmental biology, inflammation or tissue repair. This is an exciting opportunity to work on an interdisciplinary and cross-institutional project in collaboration with Bristol Population Health Science Institute and Cardiff University.
Applications will close late November (GW4 BioMed) and early December (SWBio).
Further information about the project and how to apply:
https://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=101742 (SWBioDTP)
https://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=101684 (GW4 BioMedDTP)
I'm happy to receive informal enquiries by email if you want further details.
26 September 2018
Exciting PhD opportunity under GW4BioMedDTP for Oct 2019 start!
We have an exciting PhD project available on the GW4 BioMed DTP PhD scheme for someone with a keen interest in developmental biology, inflammation or tissue repair. This is an exciting opportunity to work on an interdisciplinary project integrating state-of-the-art imaging and genetics in Drosophila with human genetic epidemiology studies.
Applications will open on Monday 24th September 2018 and will close at 5:00pm on Friday 23rd November 2018.
Please see this link for further info and how to apply. I'm happy to receive informal enquiries by email if you want further details.
27 June 2018
We are recruiting a post-doc!
We have a post-doc position available (for 3 years in the first instance) for someone with a keen interest in developmental biology, inflammation or tissue repair. This is an exciting opportunity to work on an interdisciplinary project integrating state-of-the-art imaging and genetics in Drosophila with human genetic epidemiology studies.
Please see this link for further info and how to apply. I'm happy to receive informal enquiries by email if you want further details.
25 June 2018
Our new Journal of Cell Biology paper is online!
Our recent work, by PhD student Leila Thuma, developing a new Drosophila pupal model to study immune cell extravasation from vessels to wounds is now published online.
http://jcb.rupress.org/content/early/2018/06/25/jcb.201801013
Image credit: Dr Leila Thuma
14 June 2018
Our new JoVE video is online!
Curious how we prepare our Drosophila pupae for in vivo time-lapse imaging of tissue repair and the accompanying inflammatory response? See our latest JoVE method video:
13 June 2018
Visit to Royal Society & Buckingham Palace!
Wonderful afternoon meeting other new Research Fellows supported by The Royal Society and talking science with The Duke of York during a delicious afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace!
Excited to attend future events hosted by The Royal Society once my Fellowship starts in September!