Research output per year
Research output per year
The Division of Developmental Biology and Medicine is an exciting new grouping within the School of Medical Sciences. It includes basic scientists and clinical scientists studying multiple different aspects of developmental biology, from basic cell behaviour to clinical reproductive and obstetric medicine.
The Division is located partly in the state-of-the-art biological science facilities of the Michael Smith building, and partly in the embedded laboratory facilities in Central Manchester NHS Trust (including St Mary’s Hospital).
Developmental biology and medicine encompasses an exciting array of diverse research. There are three established groups within the Division, detailed below. Within these groups are many individual and specific research interests.
The maternal and fetal health group focuses on all aspects of pregnancy research. It includes researchers interested in reproductive medicine, implantation physiology, reproductive endocrinology, maternal vascular disease, maternal immune disorders, placental function, fetal growth disorders and stillbirth.
The linking philosophy of these topics is to improve outcomes for parents and their children by understanding the basic physiology of pregnancy and translating this knowledge to find solutions to pregnancy-related disease.
This group hosts the Tommy’s funded stillbirth research centre that receives and annual block grant to support research in the area of stillbirth. The centre aims to both prevent stillbirth by improved detection and management of at risk pregnancies and to improve the subsequent care of those patients who have unfortunately lost a child.
The paediatric growth and development group has a focused research interest in growth disorders of children and in improving treatment outcomes. Its main areas of research are in the pharmacogenomics and genetics of disordered growth along the prediction of therapeutic response and the modelling of different human growth trajectories using zebrafish.
There is specific interest in characterising the role of ubiquitination in growth disorders, using the 3M syndrome as a model disorder, and using multi-omic approaches to understand why some children born small fail to show catch-up growth.
Using the range of approaches covered by researchers, sets of genes have been associated with a transcriptomic response that define the molecular phenotypes of growth disorders and are predictive of clinical responses to human growth hormone treatment. This group also has experience at managing large clinical studies such as the Manchester Growth and Vascular Health Study.
The developmental biology group encompasses a broad array of research programmes and interests aimed at understanding the dynamic processes involved in the transformation of a fertilized egg into a complex multicellular organism.
Our studies involve work in a host of model organisms and are directed at understanding fundamental mechanisms involved in gene expression, cell signalling, and cell behaviour.
We employ a diverse set of approaches that include advanced imaging of cells and whole embryos, quantitative measurement of RNA and protein in single cells and the manipulation of cellular forces.
This work is illuminating the mechanisms by which different cell types and tissues arise during development, and mechanisms regulating stem cell maintenance and differentiation. One of our aims is to harness an understanding of fundamental developmental mechanisms to address problems in human development, diseases and in and the healing process.
View a list of researchers in the division
email: [email protected]
Person: Academic
Person: Academic
Person: Academic
Person: Academic
Person: Academic
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Westwood, M. (PI), Cottrell, E. (CoI), Desforges, M. (CoI), Dilworth, M. (CoI), Mann, E. (CoI), Mcbain, A. (CoI) & Stevens, A. (CoI)
1/05/24 → 30/04/27
Project: Research
Heazell, A. (PI), Aplin, J. (CoI), Brownbill, P. (CoI), Cottrell, E. (CoI), Desforges, M. (CoI), Dilworth, M. (CoI), Higgins, L. (CoI), Johnstone, E. (CoI), Myers, J. (CoI), Palin, V. (CoI), Ruane, P. (CoI), Stevens, A. (CoI), Tropea, T. (CoI), Westwood, M. (CoI) & Worton, S. (CoI)
1/04/24 → 31/03/25
Project: Research
Heazell, A. (PI), Brownbill, P. (CoI), Chernyavsky, I. (CoI), Cotter, S. (CoI), Duhig, K. (CoI), Higgins, L. (CoI), Jensen, O. (CoI), Johnstone, E. (CoI) & Whitfield, C. (CoI)
17/10/22 → 31/03/25
Project: Research
Papalopulu, N. (PI)
1/04/22 → 31/03/27
Project: Research
Johnstone, E. (PI), Povey, A. (CoI), Van Tongeren, M. (CoI), Ruane, P. (CoI), Bannan, T. (CoI), Gittins, M. (CoI) & Higgins, L. (CoI)
1/11/21 → 31/10/25
Project: Research
Clayton, P. (Participant), Black, G. (Participant), (Participant), Manson, F. (Participant), (Participant) & Patel, L. (Participant)
Impact: Health impacts
Johnstone, E. (Participant)
Impact: Health and wellbeing
Myers, J. (Corresponding participant)
Impact: Health and wellbeing, Technological
Myers, J. (Corresponding participant), Ormesher, L. (Participant), Johnstone, E. (Participant) & Duhig, K. (Participant)
Impact: Health and wellbeing, Economic
Heazell, A. (Participant), Jones, R. (Participant) & Sibley, C. (Participant)
Impact: Health and wellbeing
Reid, F. (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk › Research
Kosciuszko, M. (Peer reviewer of publications)
Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work › Publication peer-review › Research
Kosciuszko, M. (Peer reviewer of publications)
Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work › Publication peer-review › Research
Higgins, L. (Chair)
Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Organising a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Research
Michelle Desforges (Chair)
Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Organising a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Research
Higgins, L. (Contributor), Johnstone, E. (Contributor) & Heazell, A. (Contributor), Mendeley Data, 22 Oct 2018
DOI: 10.17632/vsxsjhp6n3.1, https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/vsxsjhp6n3
Dataset
Zaborska, K. (Contributor), Edwards, G. (Contributor), Austin, C. (Contributor) & Wareing, M. (Contributor), figshare , 3 Apr 2017
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.4811068.v1, https://figshare.com/articles/Supplementary_Material_for_The_Role_of_O-GlcNAcylation_in_Perivascular_Adipose_Tissue_Dysfunction_of_Offspring_of_High-Fat_Diet-Fed_Rats/4811068/1 and one more link, https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/7959796 (show fewer)
Dataset
Brook, A. (Creator), Baynes, G. (Creator), Scargill, J. (Creator), Evangelinos, A. (Creator), Brennan-Richardson, C. (Creator), Dow, F. (Creator), Ginsberg, Y. (Creator), Weissbach, T. (Creator), Brodszki, J. (Creator), Hansson, E. (Creator), Diemert, A. (Creator), Hetcher, K. (Creator), Maksym, K. (Creator), Marlow, N. (Creator), Spencer, R. (Creator), David, A. (Creator), Hansson, S. R. (Creator) & Brownbill, P. (Creator), University of Manchester Figshare, 10 Jun 2024
DOI: 10.48420/25924327, https://figshare.manchester.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Research_data_for_a_study_on_haemoglobin_and_heme_defences_-_EVERREST_study/25924327
Dataset
Ogwulu, C. B. (Contributor), Jackson, L. J. (Contributor), Heazell, A. (Contributor) & Roberts, T. E. (Contributor), figshare , 1 Sept 2015
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3645089.v1, https://figshare.com/collections/Exploring_the_intangible_economic_costs_of_stillbirth/3645089/1
Dataset
Ngwenya, S. (Creator), Jones, B. (Contributor), Mwembe, D. (Contributor), Mapfumo, C. (Contributor), Familusi, A. (Contributor), Nare, H. (Contributor) & Heazell, A. (Contributor), Mendeley Data, 19 Oct 2019
DOI: 10.17632/wrkvzf567k.2, https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/wrkvzf567k
Dataset
Kowash, H. (Recipient), 2017
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Crosbie, E. (Recipient) & Heazell, A. (Recipient), 2014
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Wan, Y.-L. (Recipient), Crosbie, E. (Recipient), Kitson, S. (Recipient) & Kither, H. (Recipient), 2017
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Kosciuszko, M. (Recipient), 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Newman, W., Mcdermott, J., Body, R., Mahaveer, A., Wilson, P., Bruce, I., Booth, N., James, R., Beaman, G., Tricker, K., Turner, M., Harvey, K., Ulph, F. & Macleod, R.
29/03/22
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
9/12/21
4 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
25/08/21
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
30/05/21
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
Student thesis: Phd
Student thesis: Doctor of Medicine
Student thesis: Phd
Student thesis: Phd
Student thesis: Phd