Name: Dr. Matthew W Loose

Position: Professor of Developmental and Computational Biology

Research Description:

Development is a consequence of the ordered division of cells to form a whole organism. This process is controlled by signals and transcription factors that interact with one another to regulate the fate of individual cells. These interactions, when viewed as a whole, form a genetic regulatory network. I am exploring ways to identify, model, test and represent such networks to understand how transcription factors and signals work together to control development.

My lab is interested in the process of development and, ultimately, how cells are programmed to different phenotypes. We investigate these processes using a variety of approaches, including in vivo, in vitro and in silico methods.

For information on compiling gene regulatory networks and to find out more about the tools we have developed, visit the 'Genetic Regulatory Network' pages or visit www.myGRN.org . An excellent and comprehensive review has ercently been published by Thomas Schlitt and Alvis Brazma - details available here.

Mesendoderm specification in amphibians.

The process of germ layer specification in Xenopus laevis has been extensively studied and a detailed picture describing the underlying genetic regulatory events is emerging. In part, this is a result of our work to deduce a GRN describing the specification of mesoderm and endoderm during early development ( Loose and Patient, 2004). This network, although incomplete as not all interactions have yet been experimentally verified, already appears highly complex (see below).

Lab Memberships

Loose Laboratory: Computational Biology (Principal Investigator/Director)

Contact Information

Address:
Institute Of Genetics
Queens Medical Centre
Derby Road
Nottingham, Notts
NG5 1DD, United Kingdom

Web Page: http://www.mygrn.org/
Phone:  0115 8230358