Prof Howard Baylis
- Professor in Cell Signalling Biology
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About
I have worked on several systems in my career. Although, on the surface they look rather different I have always been interested in how cells use signals to respond to and modify their environment. I did my PhD on microbial molecular genetics at the John Innes Institute in Norwich. I then moved on to eukaryotes and worked on the biology of protozoan parasites undertaking post-docs in the Department of Biochemistry in Cambridge and at the University of York. I then decided to follow my interests in the context of whole animal biology and so switched to C. elegans. I was a post-doc and then an MRC Senior Non-clinical Fellow in a part of the Babraham Institute that was located in the Zoology Department. I was an MRC Fellow for ten years during which time I joined the Zoology Department and obtained a Lectureship position. I am now Professor of Cell Signalling Biology.
I was Head of Department between 2016 and 2023 and prior to that Deputy Head of Department for Teaching.
Research
We am aim to understand how signalling within and between cells is used to regulate the physiology and development of animals. We have a particular focus of the role of ion channels.
My current focus is on the role of pentameric ligand gated ion channels in the nervous system of C. elegans.
We also study how signalling networks that use the second messengers calcium and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) are used to control the biology of C. elegans.
Our research is always driven by a desire to integrate a mechanistic understanding of cell and molecular processes with whole animal function as revealed and measured by development, physiological function or behaviour.
To tackle these questions we use a combination of approaches including; RNAi and genetics to perturb and analyse gene function, electrophysiological techniques to investigate channel function, cell biological and microscopical approaches to address function and assays of whole animal function.
