Developmental Molecular Mechanisms

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
MRC Senior Non-Clinical Research Fellow and Principal Investigator, MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit, Centre for Reproductive Biology, The Queen's Medical Research Institute, Edinburgh

EDUCATION, QUALIFICATIONS, PREVIOUS FELLOWSHIPS
• 2000-2004: MRC Career Development Fellow
• 1996-1999: Wellcome Trust International Travelling Fellow
• 1990-1995: EMBL PhD program 'The mechanism of translational repression by iron regulatory protein'
• 1985-1989: BSc (Hons) Molecular Biology

Nicola Gray completed her PhD at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg and was awarded her PhD by the University of Glasgow in 1994. She then carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she developed an interest in translational regulation during early development. In 2000, she became a Group Leader at the MRC Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh and recently (2008) moved her laboratory to the MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit where she remains associated with the University of Edinburgh.

EDITORIAL ACTIVITIES:
• Associate Editor: Biology of the Cell
• Editorial Advisory Panel: Biochemical Journal
• Advisory Panel: Biochemical Society Transactions

MEMBERSHIPS:
Biochemical Society

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Genes must be regulated to ensure that they are expressed at the right time and place and in the correct amounts. Failure in this process can lead to disease. Genes can be regulated at multiple steps including at the level of mRNA translation. Work in recent years has revealed that the mis-regulation of mRNA translation is important in the aetiology of a wide range of human diseases including reproductive, neurological and metabolic disorders. Our work examines how mRNAs are regulated at the level of translation and the consequences of their mis-regulation. Current projects in the laboratory focus on specific translational control events during gametogenesis and early development.