By Andrew Papanastasiou and Liusaidh Owen   Andrew Papanastasiou and Liusaidh Owen take us on a deep dive into their study at the MRC Human Genetics Unit.   The eye field, its development and challenges in understanding   The establishment or `specification’ of the eye field marks the first known stage of vertebrate eye development. […]

By Cherry Ferrier Communications Manager, Institute of Genetics and Cancer   I recently spoke with the Institute’s Director of Teaching and Learning, Professor Lesley Stark (above), to reflect upon the first year of a new part-time online MSc programme in cancer biology and precision oncology at the University of Edinburgh. Lesley’s passion for the programme […]

As someone who has always been passionate about science and research, the opportunity to pursue a PhD at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer at the University of Edinburgh was a dream come true. However, the journey to get here was not without its challenges. One of the biggest challenges I faced was the application […]

Do you have different groups you want to compare, but don’t know how? Or are you wondering what sample sizes are needed to get reliable results? There is a man at the IGC who can help with power and your analyses: Hannes Becher is the statistician at the IGC’s Bioinformatics Analysis Core Team. Hannes joined […]

As a PhD student on the MRC HGU rotation programme I’ve had the opportunity to work in the Zebrafish Facility during one of my rotations. I was very warmly welcomed into the facility and the whole team were always happy to answer questions and provide support. Their enthusiasm was infectious and I found myself really […]

Team member of the Bioinformatics Analysis Core   Science is unpredictable, but you have to ask clear and sensible biological questions before doing the analysis, rather than producing big data for the sake of it. – Suggested by Dr. Philippe Gautier (Gogo) to young researchers in the MRC Human Genetics Unit, and those who plan […]

Separating green from red, and dead from live, she works miracles with our low in number, debris-filled, clumpy cell samples. She brings light and energy to a darker and windowless basement space and is a friendly face when failed experiments get us down. We all know that our flow cytometry facility wouldn’t run the same […]

By Sydney Peters, George Watson’s College   When I was first offered the chance to work in Noor’s lab I was so excited but wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Biology and Chemistry have always been my favourite subjects in school but I was intrigued to see what life as a scientist would really be […]

When I applied to the MRC Human Genetics Unit (HGU) PhD programme I was already working as a Research Assistant at the HGU but my path up to that point hadn’t been very direct.   When I left university with an honours degree in Cell Biology, I was ready to enter the workforce. I wanted […]

Breathing in the thin but fresh air of Himalayas, and bathed in the most dazzling sunlight besides Namtso, I was on a road trip across Tibet last summer. Right after resigning from my last job, one of my closest friends just started the career as an English teacher there, so we drove 3,000 kilometres from […]