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Department of Genetics

 
Joseph Baxter microscope 590

Projects

The Genetics Department offers the choice of “wet” or “dry” projects, which are undertaken in the Lent Term.

Examples of project titles from previous years

  • Investigating the mechanisms of pattern regulation in the zebrafish tailbud
  • Modelling the demographic and selective processes shaping diversification of a crater lake cichlid fish
  • Regulation of transposon alternative splicing in the soma and germline
  • Is Topoisomerase 2 alpha required to maintain mitotic chromosomes
  • Lactobacillus versus E. coli
  • Exploring population genetic spatial processes
  • Exploration and bioinformatics analysis of disease comorbidities
  • Demographic history of diverse species from whole genome sequences
  • mRNA decay and the control of germline stem cell differentiation
  • Integrating ancient African Y-chromosome lineages into present-day phylogenies. 
  • Mammalian epigenetic control: chromosome architecture and topology in vivo – new insights from genomic imprinting.
  • Dissecting Ras inhibition by a novel class of Ras-interacting proteins - a synthetic approach.
  • CRISPR-mediated deletion of transposable elements.
  • How does an innate immune system recognize a pathogen that is very similar to the host?
  • Functional circuitry of odour discrimination in Drosophila larvae.
  • Comparative analysis of cancer gene expression data.
  • Genetic basis of bullseye pattern formation in Hibiscus flowers.
  • Screening for genes that regulate axonal endoplasmic reticulum structure.
  • Analysing single cell learning and behaviour with machine learning approaches.
  • Drosophila nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.
  • Exploring population turnover using evolutionary genetic simulation.
  • Systems-level quantitative analyses of spindle pole asymmetric fate.
  • The role of centrosome anchoring and release in Drosophila dorsal-ventral axis formation.
  • A New Approach to the Treatment of UTIs.
  • Why does life history predict genomic diversity?

Examples of BBS dissertation titles from previous years

  • Discuss the experimental evidence for and against the "Activation-Transformation" model of anterior-posterior patterning of the vertebrate nervous system"
  • Trace the economic and biological causes of the current antibiotic resistance crisis. Is there a solution and, if so, does it lie in the hands of patients, clinicians, regulators or researchers?
  • Human (especially female) meiosis is extraordinarily error-prone. What progress has been made in understanding the molecular basis for this genetic problem?
  • Transcriptional gene silencing in plants.
  • Can the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia eliminate vector-borne disease?
  • How can model organism genetics best be combined with identification of the genetic causes of rare recessive diseases, to improve our understanding of basic biology, disease mechanisms, and potential therapies?
  • Proposals were announced earlier this year to close down two leading UK mouse genetics facilities. Considering both the scientific and financial issues involved, assess the advisability of these closures.
  • Organoids: a bright future?
  • Aneuploidy in cancer: lessons so far.
  • Transposable elements – a powerful force driving evolution.
  • Genetic Mechanisms of pattern formation on the surface of plants and animals.
  • Issues with identification and interpretation of variants of unknown significance.
  • A case study of differences in incidences of different types of cancer in India, US and the UK and what we can learn from it.
  • Control of spindle orientation in asymmetric cell divisions.
  • What is inclusive fitness, and what is it for?
  • How important was the functional impact of archaic admixture on the human genome
  • Does our modern understanding of epigenetics challenge the tenets of neo-Darwinism?
  • Modelling in Biology: accurate descriptions of our pathetic thinking or pathetic descriptions of the real world?