Sally Lowell
Address
- Street
-
Centre for Regenerative Medicine
Institute for Regeneration and Repair
The University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh BioQuarter
5 Little France Drive - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH16 4UU
Background
- PhD with Fiona Watt at CRUK
- Postdoc with David Anderson at Caltech
- Postdoc with Austin Smith at the University of Edinburgh
- Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow at the University of Edinburgh
- Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow at the University of Edinburgh
Current PhD students supervised
Darren Wisniewski
Matthew French
Past PhD students supervised
Mattias Malaguti
Rosa Portero Migueles
Paul Nistor
Amy Pegg
Karolina Punovuori
Chandrika Rao
Research summary
Pluripotent stem cell differentiation
The aim of my research is to understand the lineage decisions of pluripotent cells. I am interested in how local communication between individual cells influences these decisions. We are also trying to understand how changes in adhesion and tissue morphology modulate differentiation during early development.
Aims and areas of interest
We aim to understand how cells steer a path from pluripotency towards lineage commitment, and in particular to understand why differentiation response can be variable between individual cells.We have identified transcription factors that control the first steps towards differentiation, and which can be exploited as markers of early primed or committed states. We are also investigating how events outside the nucleus, particularly cell adhesion and tissue morphology, may influence the way that pluripotent cells receive and interpret differentiation cues. Our lab are developing quantitative imaging tools for monitoring changes in tissue morphology and cellular organisation in order to ask how these relate to differentiation competence. By uncovering the interplay between transcription, signalling, and morphogenesis, our ultimate aim is to discover the hidden rules behind the apparent unpredictability of the differentiation response.
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Pax6 mutant cerebral organoids partially recapitulate phenotypes of Pax6 mutant mouse strains
In:
PLoS ONE, vol. 17
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278147
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Repurposing the lineage-determining transcription factor Atoh1 without redistributing its genomic binding sites
(23 pages)
In:
Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, vol. 10
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2022.1016367
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Twist1 interacts with beta/delta-Catenins during neural tube development and regulates fate transition in cranial neural crest cells
(59 pages)
In:
Development, vol. 149
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.200068
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
SyNPL: Synthetic notch pluripotent cell lines to monitor and manipulate cell interactions in vitro and in vivo
(46 pages)
In:
Development, vol. 149
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.200226
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
In preprints: The problem of producing precise patterns
(2 pages)
In:
Development, vol. 149
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.200710
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The future of conferences
(3 pages)
In:
Development, vol. 149
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.200438
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Cadherins in early neural development
(16 pages)
In:
Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-021-03815-9
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (Published) -
You should always keep in touch with your friends: Community effects in biology
In:
Nature reviews Molecular cell biology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-020-00290-1
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Single-cell lineage tracing unveils a role for Tcf15 in haematopoiesis
(5 pages)
In:
Nature, vol. 583, pp. 585-589
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2503-6
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The transcription factor E2A drives neural differentiation in pluripotent cells
In:
Development, vol. 147
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.184093
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
N-cadherin stabilises neural identity by dampening anti-neural signals
In:
Development, vol. 146
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.183269
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Biotic analogies for self-organising cities
In:
Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2399808319882730
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Competence to epithelialise coincides with competence to differentiate in pluripotent cells
(26 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/809467
Research output: › Working paper (Published) -
Atoh1 is repurposed from neuronal to hair cell determinant by Gfi1 acting as a coactivator without redistributing Atoh1’s genomic binding sites
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/767574
Research output: › Preprint (Published) -
Id1 stabilises epiblast identity by sensing delays in nodal activation and adjusting the timing of differentiation
(16 pages)
In:
Developmental Cell, vol. 50, pp. 462-477.E
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2019.05.032
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Nessys: A new set of tools for the automated detection of nuclei within intact tissues and dense 3D cultures
(29 pages)
In:
PLoS Biology, vol. 17
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000388
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Mapping the Emergent Spatial Organization of Mammalian Cells using Micropatterns and Quantitative Imaging
(14 pages)
In:
Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3791/59634
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The PLOS Biology xv collection: 15 years of exceptional science highlighted across 12 months
In:
PLoS Biology, vol. 17
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000180
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Agent-based modelling of Pattern Formation in Pluripotent Stem Cells: Initial Experiments and Results
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/CISP-BMEI.2018.8633048
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Conference contribution (Published) -
Geometrical confinement controls the asymmetric patterning of brachyury in cultures of pluripotent cells
(16 pages)
In:
Development, vol. 145
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.166025
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)