Nottingham, University of, MRes, Molecular Genetics

Within the School of Biology research in molecular genetics is concentrated in the human genetics; fungal biology; and developmental genetics and gene control groups; in the human genetics group research in this area includes studies of the molecular basis of myotonic dystrophy and the identification of genes involved in cardiac development; the molecular genetics of muscle disease; mouse models of muscle disorders and molecular genetic approaches to anthropology and human population genetics; in the fungal biology group there are studies on the molecular events that determine stress responses during polarised growth, protein folding and secretion in yeasts and filamentous fungi; the molecular and cellular effects of stress on yeast cells and the genetic mechanisms that control sex in fungi; the developmental genetics and gene control group focuses on the mechanisms of eukaryotic gene expression and the genetics of vertebrate embryonic development; developmental studies are focused largely upon the mechanisms that control stem cell fate; projects on the control of gene expression address the machinery used by cells to achieve appropriate levels of functional transcripts; these studies include control of transcription and the mechanisms of RNA maturation.