School of Biosciences

Role(s): Academic

Qualifications

'ONC' Medical laboratory Sciences.

'HNC' Medical Laboratory Sciences (Medical Microbiology).

Past research

Dr Keith H. S. Campbell is a cellbiologist/embryologist with 30 years scientific experience 25 of which havebeen in the field of cell growth and differentiation including 14 years workingwith early embryos. After first qualifying as a Medical laboratory Technologistspecialising in Medical Microbiology, he attended Queen Elizabeth CollegeLondon where he obtained a BSc (Hon’s) in Microbiology. During these studies Keith initiated his interests in the cell cycle and cellular growth. Followingbrief locum positions, firstly as Chief Medical Laboratory Technologist in theYemen and then on a program to eradicate Dutch Elm Disease in a region ofEngland (The Alfriston Valley) Keith joined the Marie Curie Institute. The Marie Curie Foundation funds basic research into the underlying causes andmechanisms of cancer. Here his interests in cellular growth and differentiationincreased. In 1983 Keith was awarded the Marie Curie Research Scholarship.Using this opportunity he attended the University of Sussex as a postgraduate student to continue his studies on cell growth and differentiation. There he studied the cytoplasmic mechanisms that control thesegregation of genetic material during the development of amphibian eggs, earlyembryos and during cell growth and division in yeast. In particular the controlof nuclear behaviour by cytoplasmic factors and the ubiquitous nature of suchfactors in eucaryotic cell types. Keith was awarded a D.Phil. for his thesistitled “Aspects of cell cycle control in Yeast and Xenopus”.

Following two postdoctoral positions he joined the Roslin Institute in 1991 where he applied his previous experience to the production of mammalian embryos by nuclear transfer. In 1995 this research led to the birth of ‘MEGAN’ and ‘MORAG’, two Welsh Mountain lambs. These were the first mammals to be ‘cloned’ from cultured differentiatedcells (Nature 380:64-66, 1996). In 1996 these experiments were repeated and extended resulting in thebirth of ‘DOLLY’, the first mammal to be ‘cloned’ from an adult derived somaticcell (Nature 385: 810-813, 1997).

The aims of all of thesestudies were twofold, firstly to understand the basic mechanisms underlyingcellular differentiation and secondly to provide a means for the precisegenetic modification of farm animal species. Keith’s work, in collaborative studieswith PPL Therapeutics, resulted in the birth of ‘POLLY’ the first transgenicmammal to be produced by nuclear transfer from a cell line genetically modifiedin culture (Science 278:2130-2133,1997).

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Previously a consultant forPPL Therapeutics (a company producing human therapeutic proteins in the milk oftransgenic farm animals), Keith left the Roslin institute in July 1997 tobecome Head of Embryology at PPL. His overall aims were to accelerate thebenefits of transgenic technology in the field of human medicine and to furtherunderstand the mechanisms underlying embryo development and cellulardifferentiation, more specifically, the development of methods for genetargeting in livestock and methods for the production of cloned pigs forXenotransplantation. Whilst at PPL a number of transgenic animals wereproduced, in July 1999 the first gene targeted lambs (Cupid and Diana) wereborn (Nature 405: 1066-1069 (2000) and then in March 2000, the World’s first piglets cloned from somatic cells (Nature 407:505-509 (2000)

In November 1999, Keith leftPPL therapeutics to become Professor of Animal Development at the University of Nottingham. Here he continues  research into the basic mechanisms underlying development and differentiationin order to improve and understand the cloning process. Uses transgenic animals as models for research and pursues interests in therapeutic stem cells and the cell cycle. The major objectives of these studies are to reprogram differentiated cells to become stem cells whilst avoiding the requirement for embryo production, to produce animal models for cell therapies and develop strategies for transplantation.

Keith is a member of theScientific Board of Advanced Cell Technologies and The Gene Center,Munich, has been a member of BBSRC scientific advisory panels, is currently a member of the HFEA horizonscanning group and an HFEA assessor. He regularly reviews papers for Nature,Science and other journals and is an editorial board member of ‘Cloning andStem Cells’ and ‘Reproduction’.

Current research

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