Dr Kyra Campbell
School of Biosciences
Senior Research Fellow
+44 114 222 4690
Full contact details
School of Biosciences
D38a
Firth Court
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
- Profile
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I have long been fascinated by the question of how cells assemble into functional tissues at both the subcellular and intercellular levels. After studying Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and being fired up by my final year course in Developmental Biology, I stayed on to do my PhD with Prof. Helen Skaer. In close collaboration with Prof. Elisabeth Knust, I explored how cell polarity is established and maintained as cells undergo the extensive remodelling that underlies tissue morphogenesis. For my postdoctoral training, I moved to the lab of Prof. Jordi Casanova in Barcelona, and focused on developing a novel model system for studying the mechanisms underlying cell plasticity during development, and in collaboration with Eduard Batlle’s lab at the IRB, in tumourigenesis. In 2017 I activated a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship that I was awarded by the Wellcome Trust/ The Royal Society, and started my group in the University of Sheffield.
Brief career history:
- 2017- present: Wellcome Trust/Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow, School of Biosciences, the University of Sheffield (UK)
- 2009–2017: Post-doctoral researcher, The Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona & The Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology Barcelona (Spain)
- 2002–2008: PhD, Department of Zoology, The University of Cambridge (UK)
- Research interests
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In many cancers cells acquire abnormal motility behaviour leading to metastasis, the main cause of cancer related deaths. It is now clear that processes normally driving the tightly controlled movement of cells during development, are reactivated in metastatic cancers in a non-regulated manner.
These processes are called the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the reverse mesenchymal-epithelial-transition (MET), and they enable cells to reversibly switch between stationary and migratory cell states. While many signals capable of inducing cells to undergo an EMT have been identified, about MET very little is known, and the molecular mechanisms orchestrating both processes remain poorly understood. We use the model organism of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to study the basic biology of these processes during normal development and also during tumour progression in exciting new Drosophila cancer models that we have recently generated.
- Publications
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Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
Journal articles
- Mesenchymal-to-epithelial transitions require tissue-specific interactions with distinct laminins. Journal of Cell Biology, 220(8). View this article in WRRO
- Sensitive high-throughput assays for tumour burden reveal the response of a Drosophila melanogaster model of colorectal cancer to standard chemotherapies. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(10). View this article in WRRO
- Methods to Generate and Assay for Distinct Stages of Cancer Metastasis in Adult Drosophila melanogaster, 161-170.
- Epithelial–mesenchymal plasticity : emerging parallels between tissue morphogenesis and cancer metastasis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1809). View this article in WRRO
- Contemporary morphogenesis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1809). View this article in WRRO
- Guidelines and definitions for research on epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 21(6), 341-352.
- Collective cell migration and metastases induced by an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in Drosophila intestinal tumors. Nature Communications, 10. View this article in WRRO
- The endoderm: a divergent cell lineage with many commonalities. Development, 146(11), dev150920-dev150920.
- Contribution of epithelial-mesenchymal transitions to organogenesis and cancer metastasis. Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 55, 30-35. View this article in WRRO
- Differential roles of the Drosophila EMT-inducing transcription factors Snail and Serpent in driving primary tumour growth.. PLoS Genetics, 14(2). View this article in WRRO
- A common framework for EMT and collective cell migration. Development, 143(23), 4291-4300.
- A role for E-cadherin in ensuring cohesive migration of a heterogeneous population of non-epithelial cells. Nature Communications, 6(1).
- Specific GATA Factors Act as Conserved Inducers of an Endodermal-EMT. Developmental Cell, 21(6), 1051-1061.
- Mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition of intercalating cells in Drosophila renal tubules depends on polarity cues from epithelial neighbours. Mechanisms of Development, 127(7-8), 345-357.
- Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) as a Therapeutic Target. Cells Tissues Organs, 1-26.
- Conserved Mechanisms of Tumorigenesis in the Drosophila Adult Midgut. PLoS ONE, 9(2), e88413-e88413.
Chapters
- 3D Tracking of Migrating Cells from Live Microscopy Time-Lapses, Computer Optimized Microscopy (pp. 385-395). Springer New York
All publications
Books
- Preface.
Journal articles
- The Drosophila adult midgut progenitor cells arise from asymmetric divisions of neuroblast-like cells. Developmental Cell.
- Modelling cancer metastasis in Drosophila melanogaster. Cells, 12(5).
- Author Correction: Guidelines and definitions for research on epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 22(12), 834-834.
- Mesenchymal-to-epithelial transitions require tissue-specific interactions with distinct laminins. Journal of Cell Biology, 220(8). View this article in WRRO
- Sensitive high-throughput assays for tumour burden reveal the response of a Drosophila melanogaster model of colorectal cancer to standard chemotherapies. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(10). View this article in WRRO
- Methods to Generate and Assay for Distinct Stages of Cancer Metastasis in Adult Drosophila melanogaster, 161-170.
- Epithelial–mesenchymal plasticity : emerging parallels between tissue morphogenesis and cancer metastasis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1809). View this article in WRRO
- Contemporary morphogenesis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1809). View this article in WRRO
- Guidelines and definitions for research on epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 21(6), 341-352.
- Collective cell migration and metastases induced by an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in Drosophila intestinal tumors. Nature Communications, 10. View this article in WRRO
- The endoderm: a divergent cell lineage with many commonalities. Development, 146(11), dev150920-dev150920.
- Contribution of epithelial-mesenchymal transitions to organogenesis and cancer metastasis. Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 55, 30-35. View this article in WRRO
- Differential roles of the Drosophila EMT-inducing transcription factors Snail and Serpent in driving primary tumour growth.. PLoS Genetics, 14(2). View this article in WRRO
- A common framework for EMT and collective cell migration. Development, 143(23), 4291-4300.
- A role for E-cadherin in ensuring cohesive migration of a heterogeneous population of non-epithelial cells. Nature Communications, 6(1).
- Specific GATA Factors Act as Conserved Inducers of an Endodermal-EMT. Developmental Cell, 21(6), 1051-1061.
- Mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition of intercalating cells in Drosophila renal tubules depends on polarity cues from epithelial neighbours. Mechanisms of Development, 127(7-8), 345-357.
- Crumbs stabilises epithelial polarity during tissue remodelling. Journal of Cell Science, 122(15), 2604-2612.
- PLA2G12A as a Novel Biomarker for Colorectal Cancer with Prognostic Relevance. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(13), 10889-10889.
- Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) as a Therapeutic Target. Cells Tissues Organs, 1-26.
- Conserved Mechanisms of Tumorigenesis in the Drosophila Adult Midgut. PLoS ONE, 9(2), e88413-e88413.
Chapters
- The Epithelial-to Mesenchymal Transition Methods and Protocols Preface, EPITHELIAL-TO MESENCHYMAL TRANSITION (pp. V-V).
- 3D Tracking of Migrating Cells from Live Microscopy Time-Lapses, Computer Optimized Microscopy (pp. 385-395). Springer New York
Preprints
- Mesenchymal-to-epithelial transitions require tissue-specific interactions with distinct laminins. Journal of Cell Biology, 220(8). View this article in WRRO
- Opportunities
We advertise PhD opportunities (Funded or Self-Funded projects) on FindAPhD.com
For further information and details of other projects on offer, please see the department PhD Opportunities page.