Kate Garrard

Mx Kate Garrard

Email: kg7749@hallam.shu.ac.uk
Research Centre: BMRC
Research Group: Campbell Allen
PhD Thesis Title: Hereditary ataxia and cellular stress responses.
Director of Studies: Liz Allen
Supervisor: Sue Campbell

SUMMARY

Kate undertook her undergraduate degree in Zoology and Genetics at the University of Sheffield where she developed an interest in developmental biology and genetics. Subsequently, Kate worked in several research groups with an interest in developmental genetics and then pursued a career as an NHS clinical scientist before starting a PhD at Sheffield Hallam University.

RESEARCH

Kate’s research is focused around the relationship between cells with hereditary gene defects and their response to cellular stress.

Currently this involves exploring the impact of hereditary mutations in genes associated with ataxia, a movement disorder caused by degeneration of the cerebellum, on stress levels within neural cells.  To achieve this, cells are treated with Thapsigargin, a chemical which causes a specific type of stress called endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and markers for three different stress pathways are examined to look for differences and similarities between cells with and without hereditary mutations.

The pathways being monitored are all parts of the unfolded protein response (UPR), which is activated in response to a build up of unfolded proteins in the ER. This is often the mechanism by which gene mutations cause disease, which is why it is important to understand the relationship between gene mutations and the UPR better.