MSc student Jan wins project prize and is nominated for the Dean's list.
Jan joined the Wilson Lab in October 2016 to conduct his MSc Neuroscience final research project, working with Ana and Gareth to further our understanding of how habenular asymmetries are established in embryonic development.
Jan has recently defended his MSc thesis and we couldn’t be prouder of him! Not only did he graduate with distinction, but also won the prize for the best project and has been nominated for the Dean's List.
Sydney Leaman gets a distinction and the highest mark in his cohort for his project on the role of Mab21l2 in eye formation.
Sydney Leaman is a medicine student who performed his MSc project under the supervision of Leo Valdivia in the Wilson Lab. He studied part of the genetic and molecular events that lead to successful eye development. In particular he focused on the role of Mab21l2, a gene that is essential for eye formation in humans but whose function is unknown. Using the zebrafish model, Sydney tried to unravel the interaction between Mab21l2 and the TGF-β/BMP pathway n viv. Analysing mutant fish he found that ab21l modulates the TGF-β/BMP pathway signalling to regulate the size of the eye. Furthermore, he used Crispr/Cas9 technology to perform sophisticated genome engineering to tag the endogenous ab21l locus.
The information and tools developed by Sydney will illuminate the role of Mab21l2 and will be used for future purification of Mab21l2 in complex with its binding partners. Finding the interactome of Mab21l2 will provide valuable data to understand vertebrate eye development in health and disease
Congratulations Jan & Sydney! We wish you lots of luck and every success in your future career.
