Aziz Aboobaker
Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences
Contact
Biography
MA Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge 1997, PhD University of Edinburgh 2003,
HHMI and Wellcome Trust Traveling Post-doctoral Fellow UC Berkeley 2003- 6,
Wellcome Trust Traveling Post-doctoral Fellow 2006-7, Research Fellow 2008-10, Director of Next Generation Sequencing 2009-current, Lecturer 2010-current, University of Nottingham
Expertise Summary
I have broad interests in evolutionary and developmental biology. My research currently focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that control planarian regeneration, how they evolved and how these can be extrapolated to tell us about the regulatory control and evolution of regenerative mechanisms. I also have an interest in Next Generation Sequencing Technology and its uses as applied to these problems and am currently director of the University of Nottingham Next Generation sequencing unit "Deep Seq"
You can learn more about my research and that of my colleagues at our group website www.aboobakerlab.com
Teaching Summary
I am most comfortable teaching molecular biology, cell biology, molecular genetics and developmental biology all within the context of animal evolution.
I currently take first year tutorial students through a crash course in the Central Dogma.We go through the organisation of DNA in the nucleus in the form of chromatin and how this key in regulating the genome, the roles of promoters enhancers and transcription factors in controlling transcription, the processing of RNA in the nucleus to produce mRNA, posttranscriptional regulation of mRNAs (including microRNAs and RNAi), briefly translation, and postranscriptional regulation and modifications (particularly those controlling chromatin). These processes are discussed in the context of how cells and tissues become different to each other and cells communicate during development. Finally we put this understanding of gene regulatory mechanisms into an evolutionary framework and discuss how variation between the genomes of "individuals" can affect these processes to generate different phenotypes upon which selection can potentially act, leading to the diversity we see in the natural world. The focus in the relatively short time available is on understanding the concepts rather than remembering fine detail, and provide a strong conceptual foundation for independent learning and studying Biology at University.
I also give lectures in the 2nd year course "Fundamentals of Molecular Evolution". In this course I demonstrate the utility and importance of accurate phylogenetic trees in understanding the direction, tempo and molecular basis for evolutionary changes. As examples we consider the origins of segmentation in animal phyla, the evolution of the Hox genes in both vertebrates and invertebrates and the hypothesis that expansion in the number of microRNAs and amount of microRNA mediated regulation across animal phyla might underpin organismal complexity.
Finally, I convene and teach the challenging 4th year Msci module, "Latest Cutting Edge Advances in Molecular Biology". The content of this module changes year to year depending on the interests of the students taking it and on recent advances in the area. Recent topics have included microRNA biology and other small RNAs, next generation sequencing technologies, induced Pluripotent stem (iPS) cell technology and the molecular basis of regeneration. Where possible novel technologies and novel advances are combined in series of papers that students present, discuss and then write about. Advice and training is given in improving presentation and writing skills and these are assessed as part of the course.
Research Summary
Our group works with the amazing planarian flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea. Like many other planarians this animal has incredible powers of regeneration, allowing entire new worms to be formed from… read more
Selected Publications
TAN TCJ, RAHMAN R, JABER-HIJAZI F, FELIX DA, CHEN C, LOUIS EJ and ABOOBAKER A, 2012. Telomere Maintenance And Telomerase Activity Are Differentially Regulated In Asexual And Sexual Worms. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America. GONZÁLEZ-ESTÉVEZ C, FELIX DA, SMITH MD, PAPS J, MORLEY SJ, JAMES V, SHARP TV and ABOOBAKER AA, 2012. Smg-1 and mtorc1 act antagonistically to regulate response to injury and growth in planarians. Plos genetics. 8(3), e1002619
Current Research
Our group works with the amazing planarian flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea. Like many other planarians this animal has incredible powers of regeneration, allowing entire new worms to be formed from tiny fragments. Almost any piece of tissue cut from an adult worm will go on to form a new worm, remaking all the missing tissues and organs, including the brain.
These animals are able to this because they have a large population of adult somatic stem cells. These cells have an indefinite self-renewal capacity as well as the ability to differentiate into all the other cell types of the body. By using molecular tools we are able to study the molecular mechanisms that control stem maintenance and differentiation and allow regeneration to proceed. By performing comparative analyses we can start to understand both the regulatory logic and evolution of regeneration within this group of animals and understand how both conserved developmental networks and novel genes have come to together to facilitate regeneration.
You'll find more information at the www.aboobakerlab.com.