Characterising Epithelial Cell Movements during Anterior Patterning
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Physiology Anatomy and Genetics
Abstract
During embryonic development, the head-tail axis is properly oriented by the migration of a special group of cells called the anterior visceral endoderm (AVE). If these cells fail to migrate, the embryo develops abnormally and generally aborts. The AVE moves within a sheet of cells called the Visceral Endoderm (VE). Work from my group indicates that AVE migration is regulated by the surrounding VE cells changing their shapes in a coordinated manner. Our work has implicated a specific molecular pathway called the Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) pathway in AVE migration.
Using a novel imaging technology that provides images of living samples at extremely high quality, this project will characterise in detail the movement of all the cells of the VE, to provide the contexts in which to understand AVE migration. It will also characterise the dynamics of the molecular motors that drive the cell shape changes that regulate AVE migration. To better understand the influence of PCP signaling on AVE migration, we will disrupt it in various way, to determine what effect this has on AVE migration. We will examine various mutants that are known to show a failure of AVE migration to see if they also show a perturbation of PCP molecules. Finally, we will examine mutants of major PCP genes for AVE migration defects.
Sheets of cells like the VE are generically called epithelia and play an important part in many developmental processes. In adults, epithelia give rise to the majority of cancers, and the spreading of such tumors is the major cause of mortality in patients. PCP signaling is important in many contexts, such as during the formation of the heart and spinal cord. Disruption of PCP can lead to congenital heart defects or condition such as spina bifida, where portions of the spinal cord are exposed through the skin on the back of the body. A better understanding of both epithelia and PCP signaling will contribute to the development of treatments for pathological conditions arising from their perturbation.
Using a novel imaging technology that provides images of living samples at extremely high quality, this project will characterise in detail the movement of all the cells of the VE, to provide the contexts in which to understand AVE migration. It will also characterise the dynamics of the molecular motors that drive the cell shape changes that regulate AVE migration. To better understand the influence of PCP signaling on AVE migration, we will disrupt it in various way, to determine what effect this has on AVE migration. We will examine various mutants that are known to show a failure of AVE migration to see if they also show a perturbation of PCP molecules. Finally, we will examine mutants of major PCP genes for AVE migration defects.
Sheets of cells like the VE are generically called epithelia and play an important part in many developmental processes. In adults, epithelia give rise to the majority of cancers, and the spreading of such tumors is the major cause of mortality in patients. PCP signaling is important in many contexts, such as during the formation of the heart and spinal cord. Disruption of PCP can lead to congenital heart defects or condition such as spina bifida, where portions of the spinal cord are exposed through the skin on the back of the body. A better understanding of both epithelia and PCP signaling will contribute to the development of treatments for pathological conditions arising from their perturbation.
Technical Summary
The anterior visceral endoderm (AVE) is required for anterior-posterior axis specification in the mouse embryo. AVE cells migrate directionally within the VE, thereby properly positioning the future anterior of the embryo and orientating the primary body axis. AVE cells consistently come to an abrupt stop at the border between the anterior epiblast and extra-embryonic ectoderm, which represents an end-point to their proximal migration. Using high-resolution 3D reconstructions of protein localisation patterns and time-lapse microscopy we have shown that AVE cells move by exchanging neighbours within an intact epithelium. Cell movement and mixing is restricted to the VE overlying the epiblast, characterised by the enrichment of Dishevelled-2 (Dvl2) to the lateral plasma membrane, a hallmark of Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) signalling. AVE cells halt upon reaching the adjoining region of VE overlying the extra-embryonic ectoderm, which displays reduced neighbour exchange and in which Dvl2 is excluded specifically from the plasma membrane. Though a single continuous sheet, these two regions of VE show distinct and dynamic patterns of F-actin and myosin IIA localisation.
Little is known about how surrounding cells in the VE respond to or influence AVE migration and the significance of the dynamic localisation patterns of Dvl-2, F-actin and myosin IIA. This project aims to use light sheet microscopy and automated image segmentation and analysis algorithms to perform a comprehensive characterisation of VE cell behaviour in wild type embryos and various mutants with AVE migration defects. Using fluorescent reporters of F-actin and myosin IIA, we will determine the dynamics of localisation of these molecular motors. By mislocalisaing Dvl-2 in the VE, we will test hypotheses relating to the significance of its specific localisation pattern.
Little is known about how surrounding cells in the VE respond to or influence AVE migration and the significance of the dynamic localisation patterns of Dvl-2, F-actin and myosin IIA. This project aims to use light sheet microscopy and automated image segmentation and analysis algorithms to perform a comprehensive characterisation of VE cell behaviour in wild type embryos and various mutants with AVE migration defects. Using fluorescent reporters of F-actin and myosin IIA, we will determine the dynamics of localisation of these molecular motors. By mislocalisaing Dvl-2 in the VE, we will test hypotheses relating to the significance of its specific localisation pattern.
Planned Impact
The results of this research will be conveyed to other researchers through the publication of findings in peer-reviewed journals, by reporting unpublished work at conferences and through personal communication with other scientists.
Image data that has been converted into vector models will be made available on a publicly accessible web site. Though meant primarily for other scientist, such data will also be readily available to the general public.
Though the results will primarily be disseminated through scientific journals, attempts will be made to inform the media of results prior to publication, so that the general public is more likely to be made aware of the results.
The results of this project will be communicated primarily by the PI, but also by the postdoc working on the project. Manuscripts will be written by the two together. Websites making the data publicly accessible will be plain but functional. Such simple web sites can be created relatively easily with commercially available programs.
Image data that has been converted into vector models will be made available on a publicly accessible web site. Though meant primarily for other scientist, such data will also be readily available to the general public.
Though the results will primarily be disseminated through scientific journals, attempts will be made to inform the media of results prior to publication, so that the general public is more likely to be made aware of the results.
The results of this project will be communicated primarily by the PI, but also by the postdoc working on the project. Manuscripts will be written by the two together. Websites making the data publicly accessible will be plain but functional. Such simple web sites can be created relatively easily with commercially available programs.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Shankar Srinivas (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Bilanges B
(2017)
Vps34 PI 3-kinase inactivation enhances insulin sensitivity through reprogramming of mitochondrial metabolism.
in Nature communications
Biggins JS
(2015)
Towards understanding the roles of position and geometry on cell fate decisions during preimplantation development.
in Seminars in cell & developmental biology
Stower MJ
(2018)
The Head's Tale: Anterior-Posterior Axis Formation in the Mouse Embryo.
in Current topics in developmental biology
Leonavicius K
(2020)
Spatial protein analysis in developing tissues: a sampling-based image processing approach.
in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
Tyser RCV
(2021)
Single-cell transcriptomic characterization of a gastrulating human embryo.
in Nature
Cheewaruangroj N
(2019)
Peristaltic Elastic Instability in an Inflated Cylindrical Channel.
in Physical review letters
Berenjeno IM
(2017)
Oncogenic PIK3CA induces centrosome amplification and tolerance to genome doubling.
in Nature communications
Trichas G
(2012)
Multi-cellular rosettes in the mouse visceral endoderm facilitate the ordered migration of anterior visceral endoderm cells.
in PLoS biology
Leonavicius K
(2018)
Mechanics of mouse blastocyst hatching revealed by a hydrogel-based microdeformation assay.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Watanabe T
(2014)
Limited predictive value of blastomere angle of division in trophectoderm and inner cell mass specification.
in Development (Cambridge, England)
Royer C
(2019)
Hippo Enters the Competition.
in Developmental cell
Stower MJ
(2014)
Heading forwards: anterior visceral endoderm migration in patterning the mouse embryo.
in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
Sheng G
(2022)
Extraembryonic tissues: exploring concepts, definitions and functions across the animal kingdom.
in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
Royer C
(2020)
Establishment of a relationship between blastomere geometry and YAP localisation during compaction.
in Development (Cambridge, England)
Thowfeequ S
(2022)
Epithelial dynamics during early mouse development
in Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
Thowfeequ S
(2022)
Embryonic and extraembryonic tissues during mammalian development: shifting boundaries in time and space.
in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
Mau KHT
(2022)
Dynamic enlargement and mobilization of lipid droplets in pluripotent cells coordinate morphogenesis during mouse peri-implantation development.
in Nature communications
Chen CM
(2014)
Detecting cardiac contractile activity in the early mouse embryo using multiple modalities.
in Frontiers in physiology
Magalhães CG
(2021)
Characterization of embryonic surface ectoderm cell protrusions.
in Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists
Tyser RCV
(2021)
Characterization of a common progenitor pool of the epicardium and myocardium.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Joyce B
(2012)
Cell movements in the egg cylinder stage mouse embryo.
in Results and problems in cell differentiation
Stower MJ
(2015)
Bi-modal strategy of gastrulation in reptiles.
in Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists
Mathiah N
(2020)
Asymmetry in the frequency and position of mitosis in the mouse embryo epiblast at gastrulation.
in EMBO reports
Royer C
(2022)
ASPP2 maintains the integrity of mechanically stressed pseudostratified epithelia during morphogenesis.
in Nature communications
Royer C
(2014)
ASPP2 links the apical lateral polarity complex to the regulation of YAP activity in epithelial cells.
in PloS one
Srinivas S
(2017)
A Tale of Division and Polarization in the Mammalian Embryo.
in Developmental cell
Tyser R
(2020)
A spatially resolved single cell atlas of human gastrulation
Raimondo JV
(2013)
A genetically-encoded chloride and pH sensor for dissociating ion dynamics in the nervous system.
in Frontiers in cellular neuroscience
| Title | Digital Body: Convergent Pulses |
| Description | Young disabled and non-disabled dancers from Oxford's Parasol Project have created a new Digital Body film with Alexander Whitley Dance Company. Filmed during the COVID pandemic, their short choreographies, inspired by conversations with members of my research group, explore how movement is coordinated within living beings. The real-world movements have been captured and edited together with 3D motion graphics by artists Robin Ashurst and Abel Enklaar at Flat 12 and features music by Rival Consoles. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | Interaction between members of my group and artists. |
| URL | https://if-oxford.com/event/digital-body/ |
| Title | Shaping Destiny - dance performance and VR art |
| Description | In the spring of 2022, Shaping Destiny, together with two community youth groups, began working with the young people of Body Politic and the Parasol Project to co-create art inspired by research taking place at the University of Oxford. Body Politic is a hip-hop dance group based in Barton Park, Oxford, whose young people come from diverse backgrounds. Parasol Project is a group of young people with disabilities, based in Northway, Oxford. The aim was to connect with the wider community through the joys of creation and discovery. Together, they created movements inspired by the academic research of Shankar Srinivas and Wes Williams on body forms and norms, from the contrasting perspectives of developmental genetics (Srinivas) and humanities (Williams). To ensure inclusivity in capturing different forms and moves, the young people were scanned using a bespoke set-up comprising of a pair of Kinect Azure depth scan cameras without a conventional motion capture setup. Our virtual reality experience came to fruition through a series of unique technical developments by Kostas Pataridis and unifying artistic vision of Alexander Whitley. This VR experience celebrates the journey that every person has taken, is taking, and will take through the past, present, and future. We start as an embryo and progressively commit to our fate as we and our cells choose our path through life. We diverge from a primordial shared form to our individual unique forms, fates, and perspectives defined by our biology, placement in society, environment, and imagination. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | • Engaging with the young dancers of the Parasol Project and Body Politic helped nuance our (my group members and myself) perspective of what might be considered 'normal' or 'abnormal' phenotypes. • The Virtual Reality based based art has been a extremely useful tool in engaging with members of the public on aspects of our research. • We were able to share our experiences so far in the cross-disciplinary collaborative exploration of body form with our professional colleagues at the annual 1-day Developmental Biology Symposium |
| Description | We have discovered how the way a cell divides might influence the fate of the daughter cells. Our ongoing research is also clarifying how cells migrate during the formation of the embryo. In terms of techniques, we have developed ways of imaging mouse embryos using light sheet microscopy, a new, advanced type of microscope. Updated March 2020 The techniques and initial insights enabled by this award have enabled us to further characterise coordinated movement between differnt embryonic tissues and has enabled us to study cell movements int he pluripotent epiblast, the tissue that gives the majority fo the fetus. We have discovered that there coordinated movements within the peiblast, and that they are aligned to the future head-tail axis, suggesting the movements may be responsible for setting up this axis. |
| Exploitation Route | The approaches we have developed for imaging mouse embryos by light sheet microscopy can be used by others to image their samples. Updated March 2020 As a larger part of this project, we have developed various computational approaches to handle the lightsheet image data. These computational approaches can be used by others. We are it he process of preparing a manuscript reporting these results, and wil lbe able to deposit the associated code on public repositories such as GitHub. We have also initiated a collaborations with a physicist (Dr Antonio Scialdone) interested in modelling cellular interactions in the early embryo. We have provided them our image data for them to use as a starting point for their analyses. We have also received a Wellcome public engagement award to collaborate with a choreographer, who is currently embedded in our group. She has taken inspiration from our lightsheet movies in developing a contemporary dance piece. |
| Sectors | Education,Healthcare,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Description | The culture and imaging approaches developed have enabled us to capture higher resolution time lapse image volumes of developing embryos than was previously possible, both with standard confocal, as well as light sheet microscopy. The knowledge generated as a result of this project have led to a better understanding of early vertebrate development (mammalian and reptile) at pre-implantation and post-implantation stages. Two of the main manuscripts published as a result of this study (Watanabe et al 2014 and Stower et al. 2015) have been cited 36 and 10 time respectively as of March 2018. Updated March 2020: We have also received a Wellcome public engagement award to collaborate with a choreographer, who is currently embedded in our group. She has taken inspiration from our lightsheet movies in developing a contemporary dance piece. The findings arising from this project have also led to the establishment of a new collaborative project with Dr Jeyan Thiyagalingam (who was a collaborator on this grant) developing new approaches to track cell movements. |
| Sector | Healthcare,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority, Scientific & Clinical Advance Advisory Committee |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | Provide advice on advances in science and clinical practice which are relevant to the Authority's work in the are of Human Fertilisation and Embryology |
| URL | https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/our-authority-committees-and-panels/scientific-and-clinical-advance... |
| Description | Dynamic Origin PER grant |
| Amount | £29,560 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2020 |
| End | 07/2021 |
| Description | Gastrulation in reptiles: Characterisation of turtle and chameleon embryos |
| Amount | £6,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | IE121500 |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2013 |
| End | 06/2014 |
| Description | Gastrulation in reptiles: Characterisation of turtle and chameleon embryos |
| Amount | £6,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | IE121500 |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2013 |
| End | 06/2014 |
| Description | Mechanisms regulating the timing of developmental events in the early mouse embryo |
| Amount | £791,589 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MR/T028637/1 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2020 |
| End | 08/2023 |
| Description | Molecular mechanisms of cell fate decisions in gastrulation and early organogenesis (WT 220379/Z/20/Z) |
| Amount | £4,000,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 220379/Z/20/Z |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2020 |
| End | 11/2025 |
| Description | UK Human Developmental Biology Initiative |
| Amount | £6,148,973 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 215116/Z/18/Z |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2019 |
| End | 09/2024 |
| Description | Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award |
| Amount | £1,760,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 103788/Z/14/Z |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2015 |
| End | 01/2020 |
| Description | Wellcome Trust Strategic Award |
| Amount | £2,400,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 105031/C/14/Z |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2014 |
| End | 10/2019 |
| Description | Wellcome Trust Technology Development Award |
| Amount | £1,500,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 108438/Z/15/Z |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2015 |
| End | 10/2020 |
| Title | Spatial protein analysis in developing tissues: a sampling-based image processing approach |
| Description | Computational pipeline for estimating protein levels from fluorescent image data. The approach incorporates features to relate expression levels with information about spatial location within the sample. |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publication of the research tool |
| URL | https://process.innovation.ox.ac.uk/software/p/13299a/silentmark-academic/1 |
| Description | Antonio Scialdone - single cell approaches to understanding early mammalian development |
| Organisation | Helmholtz Zentrum München |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Expertise in early mammalian embryology |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise in computational approaches to analysing developmental processes |
| Impact | Preprints on BiorXiv Multidisciplinary, developmental and computational biology |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Marco Fritzsche |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Expertise in mammalian embryology |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise in biophysical approaches and measurement of forces in biological contexts |
| Impact | Joint Publication - PMID: 35177595 |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Paul Riley |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Expertise in early cardiac development and human development |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise in cardiac development and regeneration |
| Impact | Joint publication - PMID: 27725084 CoI on Wellcome HDBI grant |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Ruth Baker |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Department of Physics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Experimental work designed to understand how cells migrate int he context of epithelia in the embryo |
| Collaborator Contribution | Mathematical modelling of cell movements in epithelia |
| Impact | Multidisciplinary collaboration between experimental biologists (my group) and mathematical biologists (Prof. Ruth Bakers group) |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Tracking cell movements. Dr Jeyan Thiyagalingam |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have provided image data that has been precessed by a machine learning algorithm to increase signal/noise. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have developed tracking algorithms that they are adapting to track the movement of cells in the crowded epithelia of the mouse embryo. |
| Impact | Software for tracking cells |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Tristan Rodriguez |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Department | Imperial College Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | imaging expertise |
| Collaborator Contribution | molecular embryology expertise |
| Impact | publications: Trichas et al. 2011, Stuckey et al. 2011, Trichas et al 2012 |
| Start Year | 2006 |
| Description | Wolf Reik single cell sequencing |
| Organisation | Babraham Institute |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Expertise in early mouse embryogenesis |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise single cell sequencing approaches to understand the molecular basis of generation of cellular diversity. |
| Impact | Multi-disciplinary collaboration between developmental biologists, molecular biologists, bioinformatic specialist and mathematical biologists. Multiple publications on which we are co-authors |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Title | 'SilentMark' software for the automated quantification of fluorescent signal in biological material |
| Description | Karolis Leonavicius (a BBSRC funded DPhil student in my group) created software that uses a novel sampling based approach for the quantification of fluorescence signal in different compartments of the cell. Used on microscopy images of immnuno-fluorescence stained samples, this allows one to quantify the amount of specific proteins in various cellular compartments. Importantly, the software also allows one to relate the fluorescence intensity to the spatial landmarks with the sample, which is particularly important in developmental biology applications. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | Thie software has been used by us in our research and by a collaborator in an unrelated project. We are in the process of publishing this software so that the wider community has access to it. |
| Title | Virtual Microscopy |
| Description | Software for exploring and interacting with multidimensional image volumes in virtual reality. The user can view up to four channels of data, rendered in up to six different modes. The user can also section the volume data in any arbitrary plane, in addition to zooming in/out, walking around the object, turing the object around in space etc. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | We use this software in my group to explore our image volumes and arrive at insights about the spatial distribution of proteins, or of cells within tissues. We have also found that this software is very useful in outreach activities, bringing alive our research to the lay public. We have used it in approximately 6 outreach activities, in schools, and science festivals. |
| Description | 'Dynamic Origins': Dance collaboration with Anan Atoyama |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Embryo development is a dynamic and essential time that starts our lives - something we have all undergone in our mothers' wombs but generally do not think about. An embryo starts out as a single cell which divides to form many cells that together are shaped ultimately into the new-born baby. Our research focuses on understanding how cell movement are coordinated to mould embryonic form. A major aspect of our work relies on using microscopes to image cell movements in the embryo and computer programs to visualise these data, so that we can understand how they lead to the emergence of form. However even with these modern tools, we have difficulty sometimes truly assimilating the complicated three-dimensional changes occurring over time during development. AToU is a dance company with a strong emphasis on creating dance piece to visualise invisible and unknown aspects of human society. Our project brings researchers and AToU artists together to visualise and more importantly, experience processes that are not easily seen, through the medium of dance. As scientists, we are very interested in AToU's work to connect concepts of embryonic body formation to our physical body movement, a unique opportunity for us to understand and inform our research through our own body, while at the same time, sharing our fascination for development with the wider public. This project will: 1. foster deep interaction between our research group and artists, to inspire the creation of performance art based on our science by Anan Atoyama of AToU. 2. conduct science and dance workshops for students at The Cheney School in which students will co-create dance pieces with AToU and scientists. 3. organise a dance performance by the students to an audience at Cheney School. 4. produce an original music score inspired by our science and Anan's work, to enhance engagement with the Cheney School students and contribute to AToU's development of performance pieces. Through our activities, we hope to inspire changes in attitude towards movements, art and science in the students, scientists and the artists. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020,2021 |
| Description | Cheny School Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Participation in a Science Festival organised by Cheny Secondary School. In collaboration with Prof Mathilda Mommersteeg form my department and Micron Oxford (a Wellcome Trust funded advanced imaging unit based in the adjoining Dept of Biochemistry) we had a table at the festival where we described out work on imaging embryonic morphogenesis over a period of approximately 5 hours. The co-ordination and planning of our activities was done by a postdoctoral fellow in my group Dr. Tomoko Watanabe, who was funded previously through a BBSRC grant and is currently funded through a Wellcome Trust grant. Acting on experience gained from our previous activity (Oxford Science Festival 2016), we were able to refine our activities for this event, as well as trial two additional activities. A student in my group created an 'World' in the computer game 'Minecraft' depicting different stages of heart development, as well as a maze through a developing heart. This attracted much interest from the secondary school students who visited our table. We also had on display cultured mouse caridomyocytes that visitors could watch beating using a microscope. In addition to these, as with our last event we had: 3D print-outs of different stages of embryonic heart development; fixed specimens of mouse, chick and zebrafish embryos; a microscope with live zebrafish embryos; a 3D printer printing models of embryos; a game we designed where children use stickers to fill in missing stages in development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Oxford Science Festival 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Participation in the Oxford Science Festival. In collaboration with two colleagues from my department (Profs. Jo Begbie and Mathilda Mommersteeg) and Micron Oxford (a Wellcome Trust funded advanced imaging unit based in the adjoining Dept of Biochemistry) my group had a table over two full days (Saturday and Sunday) in which we described out work on studying embryonic morphogenesis. The co-ordination and planning of our activities was done by a postdoctoral fellow in my group Dr. Tomoko Watanabe, who was funded previously through a BBSRC grant and is currently funded through a Wellcome Trust grant. Items used to facilitate engagement included: 3D print-outs of different stages of embryonic heart development; fixed specimens of mouse, chick and zebrafish embryos; a microscope with live zebrafish embryos; a 3D printer printing models of embryos; a game we designed where children use stickers to fill in missing stages in development; and moulding clay that visitors could use to make models of embryos. Participation in this resulted in an invitation to another science festival at a local secondary school. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Oxford Science Festival 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | For the second consecutive year, in collaboration with two colleagues from my department (Profs. Jo Begbie and Mathilda Mommersteeg) and Micron Oxford (a Wellcome Trust funded advanced imaging unit based in the adjoining Dept of Biochemistry) my group had a table over two full days (Saturday and Sunday) in which we described out work on studying embryonic morphogenesis. As before, the co-ordination and planning of our activities was done by a postdoctoral fellow in my group Dr. Tomoko Watanabe, who was funded previously through a BBSRC grant and is currently funded through a Wellcome Trust grant. Items used to facilitate engagement included: 3D print-outs of different stages of embryonic heart development; fixed specimens of mouse, chick and zebrafish embryos; a microscope with live zebrafish embryos; a 3D printer printing models of embryos; a game we designed where children use stickers to fill in missing stages in development; and moulding clay that visitors could use to make models of embryos. This year, we had a new display item, a 'World of Minecraft' rendering of the inside of a mouse heart. This attracted much interest from a segment of the public in the age range of 8-18 year old that we have had only limited success engaging with in the past. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Shaping Destiny project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Sustained set of activities as part of the 'Shaping Destiny' project that I am PI on. Brief synopsis below. In the spring of 2022, Shaping Destiny, together with two community youth groups, began working with the young people of Body Politic and the Parasol Project to co-create art inspired by research taking place at the University of Oxford. Body Politic is a hip-hop dance group based in Barton Park, Oxford, whose young people come from diverse backgrounds. Parasol Project is a group of young people with disabilities, based in Northway, Oxford. The aim was to connect with the wider community through the joys of creation and discovery. Together, they created movements inspired by the academic research of Shankar Srinivas and Wes Williams on body forms and norms, from the contrasting perspectives of developmental genetics (Srinivas) and humanities (Williams). To ensure inclusivity in capturing different forms and moves, the young people were scanned using a bespoke set-up comprising of a pair of Kinect Azure depth scan cameras without a conventional motion capture setup. Our virtual reality experience came to fruition through a series of unique technical developments by Kostas Pataridis and unifying artistic vision of Alexander Whitley. This VR experience celebrates the journey that every person has taken, is taking, and will take through the past, present, and future. We start as an embryo and progressively commit to our fate as we and our cells choose our path through life. We diverge from a primordial shared form to our individual unique forms, fates, and perspectives defined by our biology, placement in society, environment, and imagination. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |