Dr Emma Briggs

Funded by a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship, I then continued working with T. brucei, developing wet lab and analysis approaches to apply single‑cell transcriptomics to these parasites. During this time, I worked primarily at the University of Edinburgh, also spending some time at the University of Glasgow. With this technology I was able to deconvolve the gene expression patterns that underpin the asynchronous differentiation events that these parasites undergo as they navigate the life cycle between mammal and insect vector.

With this approach, I was also able to resolve the cell cycle of these parasites, highlighting hundreds of genes with dynamic expression patterns. This led me to my interest in the fundamental regulation of the cell cycle in T. brucei and Leishmania, the focus of my lab group here at Newcastle University. We aim to uncover and understand the molecular regulation of key cell cycle transitions, with the aim of both understanding cell cycle regulation in a divergent eukaryote and probing new routes to treatment.

Being at Newcastle has led to new collaborations, ideas, and—undoubtedly in the future—novel findings. I hope that the foundations myself and my group have begun building at Newcastle will lead to exciting large‑scale research projects into these parasites and new treatments, taking advantage of the unique combination of expert knowledge and facilities available here.