Sam Dunkley

Sam Dunkley Wellcome Trust PhD Student

I am a first year Dynamic Molecular Cell Biology Wellcome Trust-funded PhD student in the Mogessie lab. I completed my undergraduate BSc in Cancer Biology & Immunology at the University of Bristol. My research centred around alterations in chromatin state within a stem-celI model. I then moved to undertake a research masters in Oncology at the University of Oxford, where I investigated mechanisms of telomere replication. My PhD is a Doctoral Training Programme (DTP) which entails rotating in cellular, disease/model organism, and molecular labs during the first year of study. Rotations have provided me with knowledge and experience in a wide range of techniques including protein purification, cryo-electron microscopy, high-resolution live-imaging, proteomics and standard molecular biology assays. I am now fully enrolled in the Mogessie lab and will be completing the remainder of my PhD studies here. I am eager to learn the molecular mechanism at play throughout meiosis and therefore understand the perturbations that lead to chromosomal segregation abnormalities. Particularly, I aim to explore a role for the actin cytoskeleton in chromosome segregation during this fascinating process of mammalian meiosis.