Professor Eric Miska

University of Cambridge

University departments
Department of Biochemistry
University institutes
Wellcome Trust CRUK Gurdon Institute

Position: Group Leader
Personal home page: https://www.gurdon.cam.ac.uk/research/miska
Email:   fbc@cancer.cam.ac.uk

PubMed journal articles - click here

Professor Eric Miska is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students.

Research description

Our main goal is to understand how cells interpret genetic and epigenetic information as well as environmental cues to determine their correct cell fate, i.e. to make the decision to divide, die or differentiate. The recent discovery of a large conserved class of small RNA genes, through the study of the control of developmental timing in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, opened up a new and unexpected dimension of gene regulation. Although we know very little about the biology of these small RNAs, the few examples that have been studied suggest that these genes are likely to have a major impact in many areas of biology. We will concentrate on basic questions on how microRNAs control gene expression. Our approach is multi-facetted, combining molecular genetics in C. elegans and the mouse, microarray expression analysis, bioinformatics and functional studies in mammalian cell lines.

Research Programme or Virtual Institute
Fundamental Biology of Cancer
eam29
Recent publications:
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Key publications

Blenkiron C, Goldstein LD, Thorne NP, Spiteri I, Chin SF, Dunning M, Barbosa-Morais NL, Teschendorff A, Green AR, Ellis IO, Tavaré S, Caldas C, Miska EA (2007) MicroRNA expression profiling of human breast cancer identifies new markers of tumour subtype. Genome Biology 8, R214. Miska EA, Alvarez-Saavedra E, Abbott AL, Lau NC, Hellman AB, et al. (2007) Most Caenorhabditis elegans microRNAs are individually not essential for development or viability. PLoS Genet 3, e215. Lu J*, Getz G*, Miska EA*, Alvarez-Saavedra E, Lamb J, Peck D, Sweet-Cordero A, Ebert BL, Mak RH, Ferrando AA, Downing JR, Jacks T, Horvitz HR, Golub TR (2005) MicroRNA expression profiles classify human cancers. Nature 435, 834 (* equal contribution)