Dr Martin Zeidler

School of Biosciences

Reader in Cell Signalling

m.zeidler@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 6093
+44 114 222 6094 (Lab phone)

Full contact details

Dr Martin Zeidler
School of Biosciences
Firth Court
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
Profile

Brief career history

  • 2007-present: Reader, University of Sheffield, UK.
  • 2006-2007: Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield, UK.
  • 2001-2006: Emmy Noether Independent Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany.
  • 1996-2001: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
  • 1991-1996: Pre-doctoral student at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany.
  • 1987-1991: BSc in Biology with European Studies (German), The University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Research interests

Research interests

My lab is interested in identifying and analysing regulators of the JAK/STAT pathway– a signaling cascade frequently misactivated in haematopoietic malignancies.

We use both high throughput RNAi screening technologies and developmental genetic assays in Drosophila to determine the mechanisms of action of pathway regulators and their interactions in vivo.

JAK/STAT signalling in development and disease

My lab studies the regulators and roles of the JAK/STAT signal transduction cascade using a combination of human cell based approaches, Drosophila-based genetic screening and in vivo biology.

This work is aimed at generating insights into human inflammatory and haematopoietic disease.

The JAK/STAT pathway transduces the signals provided by multiple cytokines, growth factors and interferons. As a consequence, it plays a central role in development, cellular proliferation, stem cell maintenance, haematopoiesis and immunity.

In addition, inappropriate pathway activation is also linked to a wide range of human diseases including cancers, leukaemias, myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Conserved throughout evolution, the pathways biological roles have also been largely maintained and as a result, many of the findings made in low complexity model systems such as Drosophila are applicable to humans.

The Zeidler lab has collaborations with a number of high profile groups including that of Tony Green (Cambridge) and Stefan Constantinescu (Brussels).

I have also collaborated and co-supervised joint PhD students with the Strutt and Smythe labs (BMS) and the Bellantuono lab (Human Metabolism).

In the future, I anticipate working more closely on Drosophila haematopoiesis (with lab of Iwan Evans) and on inflammatory aspects of JAK/STAT signalling humans.

In addition, we are also developing Zebrafish models of human myeloproliferative neoplasms in collaboration with the laboratory of Dr Rob Wilkinson (Cardiovascular Science). Insights gained from this work will also inform analysis using patient material which will be undertaken with Sally Thomas and John Snowden (NHS, Haematology).

Finally, ‘drug repurposing’ relating to our discovery of Methotrexate as a potent inhibitor of JAK/STAT pathway signalling will also be pursued.

Publications

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Journal articles

All publications

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

Preprints

Grants

Funding

  • CR-UK Fellowship
  • UoS Schemes
  • Cancer Research UK
  • Wellcome Trust
Teaching activities

Undergraduate

  • BMS109 Lab Skills & Skills Sessions
  • BMS242/243 Principles of Developmental Biology
  • BMS301 Membrane Receptors
  • BMS356 Biomedical Technology & Drug Discovery (Co-ordinator)

Masters (MSc)

  • BMS6083 Practical Developmental Genetics
Professional activities and memberships
  • CR-UK Senior Cancer Research Fellow
  • Former Emmy Noether Career Development Fellow and CRUK Senior Cancer Research Fellow
  • Founder and academic director of the Sheffield RNAi Screening Facility (SRSF)
  • Supervised 13x PhD students
  • Journal Editor and reviewer for many journals and grant awarding bodies
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • Teaching at all Undergraduate levels