Dr Robin Beaven

Personal profile

• 2016 - present - Postdoctoral Researcher, Denholm lab, CDBS, University of Edinburgh.
• 2013-2016 - Postdoctoral Researcher, Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, Hiro Ohkura laboratory, University of Edinburgh.
• 2008-2012 - PhD in Cell Biology, Andreas Prokop laboratory, University of Manchester.
• 2005-2008 - BSc (Honours) Genetics, University of York.

Research

My background is in developmental and cell biology, and I currently explore how insect osmoregulatory organs develop. I focus on the cryptonephridial complex of beetles, in which their renal tubules associate with their rectum to recycle water back into the body. I have gained insights into its morphogenesis and developmental patterning, as well as physiology and endocrine control. This is shedding light on how tenebrionid beetles are adapted to survive in arid environments, contributing to the remarkable evolutionary success of this group. Through comparative developmental studies in other insects, I am also investigating how this system has evolved. I am now working to establish the rose chafer as a model system for embryological and molecular studies, to learn how a similar complex has evolved independently in Scarabaeoid beetles. This species could also be more generally useful to understand the unique biology of Scarabaeoid beetles; a very large and ecologically important group. I am also interested in the history of science, and gaining a longer view on how our current ideas and approaches have arisen.

Recent publications

Beaven, R., Halberg, K.V. and Denholm, B. (2023) The insect cryptonephridial complex. Current Biology. 33: R748-R749. (Quick guide).

Naseem, M.T., Beaven, R., Koyama, T., Naz, S., Su, S.Y., Leader, D.P., Klaerke, D.A., Calloe, K., Denholm, B. and Halberg, K.V. (2023) NHA1 is a cation/proton antiporter essential for the water-conserving functions of the rectal complex in Tribolium castaneum. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 120: e2217084120.

Beaven, R. ¶ (2023) The take-off of Drosophila research in 1930-1950s Edinburgh. J R Coll Physicians Edinb. 53: 119-127.

Zechini, L., Camilleri-Brennan, J., Walsh, J., Beavan, R., Moran, O., Hartley, P., Diaz, M. and Denholm, B.  (2022). Piezo buffers mechanical stress via modulation of intracellular Ca 2+ handling in the Drosophila heart. Frontiers in Physiology. 13:1003999.

Beaven, R. and Denholm, B. (2022) Early patterning followed by tissue growth establishes distal identity in Drosophila Malpighian tubules. Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 10:947376.

Beaven, R., and Denholm, B. (2018) Release and spread of Wingless is required to pattern the proximo-distal axis of Drosophila renal tubules. eLife. 7, e35373.

Beaven, R., Bastos, R. N., Spanos, C., Rome, P., Cullen, C. F., Rappsilber, J., Giet, R., Goshima, G. and Ohkura, H. (2017) 14-3-3 regulation of Ncd reveals a new mechanism for targeting proteins to the spindle in oocytes. J Cell Biol. 216, 3029-3039.

Beaven, R., Dzhindzhev, N., Qu, Y., Dajas-Bailador, F., Ohkura, H., and Prokop, A. (2015) Drosophila CLIP-190 and mammalian CLIP-170 display reduced microtubule plus end association in the nervous system. Mol Biol Cell. 26, 1491-1508.

Prokop, A., Beaven, R., Qu, Y., Sánchez-Soriano, N. (2013) Using fly genetics to dissect the cytoskeletal machinery of neurons during axonal growth and maintenance. J Cell Sci. 126, 2331-41. (Review article).

Alves-Silva, J., Sánchez-Soriano, N., Beaven, R., Klein, M., Parkin, J., Millard, T., Bellen, H., Venken, K.J.T., Ballestrem, C., Kammerer, R.A., and Prokop, A. (2012) Spectraplakins promote microtubule-mediated axonal growth by functioning as structural microtubule-associated proteins and EB1-dependent +TIPs (Tip Interacting Proteins). J Neurosci. 32, 9143-9158.

¶ corresponding author