Katharine Plant
D Phil Student
Quantitative Regulation of Gene Expression in the MHC
The MHC is highly polymorphic and several candidate genes are emerging that appear to modulate gene expression or have varied gene expression. I work on studying the allele-specific gene expression and differences between the alleles of these candidate genes in the hope of defining specific functional variants. Specifically I am looking at gene expression levels using qPCR, following up differential expression between gene exons to try and define specific different isoforms of the gene and I am analysing gene expression in a single cell manner with RNA-FISH. This allows the assumption that all cells in a population have the same expression pattern to be avoided, as each cell can be viewed individually and transcription sites can be identified (see picture (16k)).
I have previously worked with Dr Gill and Dr Hyde studying reporter genes for gene therapy for Cystic Fibrosis and with Dr Newbury studying the JNK signalling pathway in drosophila both as undergraduate research projects. I completed my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Oxford in 2008.
Keywords: RNA FISH, MHC, Genetics, Regulatory variants, Alternative splicing
This project is sponsored by the Medical Research Council