Director's profile
Keith Brennan
I have always been interested in science and, in particular, biology but my interest in Developmental Biology was sparked by chance when I carried out a summer project in the lab of Helen Skaer. There I was introduced to fruit flies that develop so fast that it is almost possible to watch the fertilised egg turn into a maggot and then a fly.
I was quickly fascinated by how this happened and was amazed that it occurred with such perfection each time that very few embryos failed to produce a fly. The project also showed me how embryology, genetics, cell biology, molecular biology and biochemistry can be combined to explain how an embryo develops or in my case how the Malpighian tubule or fly kidney is formed.
During this summer project, I also met Alfonso Martinez Arias who became my PhD supervisor and mentor. He introduced me to the problem of how differences are made between cells which is essential to produce all the different types of cell in the body such as nerve, muscle, and skin cells.
... my interest in Developmental Biology was sparked by chance when I carried out a summer project ...
In fact there are over two hundred different cell types in the human body. This huge variety of cells is largely produced by cells talking to one another, but amazingly there are only seven or eight different ways or messages they can send. This raises the problem of how so many different cell types can be produced from so few signals or messages. This problem has fascinated me for years and although it is much better understood, there are still many unanswered questions which form a major part of my research.
Finally due to the effect that it has had on my family, I am also interested in the causes of breast cancer and in particular how it starts. During the early stages, breast cancer, like most cancer types, usually looks some what like the surrounding normal tissue. This is because most cancers arise due to a change in the developmental processes that maintain tissues. Consequently, I am interested in how the mammary gland develops normally and how this is subverted leading to breast cancer.