Claire Russell
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Claire is a Lecturer in Veterinary Basic Sciences. Claire’s research uses the zebrafish, Danio rerio, for studying developmental biology and to model disorders and disease. Claire's research focusses on the nervous sytem and diseases that affect the nervous sytem such as neurodegeneration and epilepsy.
Biography
Claire Russell graduated from Imperial College, London, in 1991. She subsequently obtained a DPhil from the University of Sussex in 1995, During her DPhil, Claire investigated the development of imaginal discs in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, whilst in Robert Whittle’s laboratory.
Claire subsequently moved back to Imperial College to begin postdoctoral studies on axon guidance, again using the fruit fly as a model system. Claire worked for Guy Tear and continued to do so after the laboratory moved to King’s College, London. Claire then turned to a vertebrate model organism, the zebrafish, Danio rerio, to continue her studies on neural development in Steve Wilson’s laboratory at UCL, London.
Claire is a member of several societies, including the Biochemical Society, the British Society of Developmental Biology, the Genetics Society, the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, the International Brain Research Organisation and is also an Associate of the Royal College of Science.
Claire is a core member of the UK Epilepsy Research Network Interventions and Therapies Group and was recently a local organiser for the 13th International meeting on Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis, 1st Meeting of the Batten Disease International Alliance and 1st Worldwide Meeting for Batten Patient Organisations which was held at Royal Holloway University of London on 28-31 March 2012.
Research
Claire’s research group uses the zebrafish, and sometimes the chick, model organisms to understand various aspects of nervous system development and disease. The zebrafish is low-cost and genetically-tractable. Embryos and larvae are very fast developing, transparent and small enough for drug discovery. They are also amenable to experimental techniques such as cell transplantation and electroporation as they develop external to the mother. Hence, the early zebrafish is an excellent vertebrate for investigating the function of genes. The use of zebrafish embryos and larvae is not covered by the Home Office so they are 'replacement' models.
In particular, Claire's group is focussing on the following topics:
(1) Zebrafish models of neurodegeneration, ataxia and epilepsy, especially, but not confined to the Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses (NCLs). Such models are being used to understand disease onset, progression and mechanisms and to perform drug discovery.
(2) Mechanisms controlling the development of brain asymmetry. We are determining if the mechanisms that control brain asymmetry in zebrafish are conserved in the chick, and determining the effect of common pollutants on asymmetry,
Claire and her group have expertise in:
zebrafish husbandry, development and neurobiology; zebrafish genetics, mutants and transgenics; zebrafish EEG; zebrafish drug discovery; molecular biology, mapping and cloning; brightfield, fluorescence and confocal imaging; in situ hybridisation, immunohistochemistry; zebrafish laser ablation and electroporation.
Claire is currently looking for INDUSTRY PARTNERS interested in mutually-beneficial partnerships, either in relation to basic or medical research or providing placements for undergraduate students. Claire is particularly interested in other lysosomal storage disorders, investigating causes and mechanisms of neurological disease, using chemical libraries for drug discovery, and using the zebrafish to test novel methods of delivering therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier.
Postgraduates in the final year of their PhD and postdocs wishing to apply for a FELLOWSHIP within any of the topics mentioned are encouraged to contact Claire as there are funding opportunities from charities.
Claire currently has two PhD students:
Fahad Mahmood - Zebrafish models of Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis. This project focusses on the validation of a zebrafish CLN2 mutant as a model of late-infantile NCL, followed by drug discovery using the same model.
Kim Wager - Zebrafish models of neurodegeneration. This project is to clone a mutation that causes neurodegeneration in zebrafish and to validate a zebrafish model of juvenile NCL.
Claire has previously, at UCL and KCL, co-supervised three PhD students:
Jenny Regan (UCL, zebrafish mechanisms of asymmetry), Isaac Bianco (UCL, zebrafish asymmetry and connectivity), Bryony Butland (IC and KCL, Drosophila developmental neurobiology)
Masters, undergraduate and summer project students:
MSc in Neuroscience (KCL): Rubinder Athwal, Nargis Hemat, Sabrina Skeete, Sonia Fu.
BSc3: Catherine Hincks, Amberley Cooke, Els Hodges, Amir Helmy, Anil Joseph.
BSc2: Emily Welby, Clare Parker, Sara Molloy, Lucy Abel, Madeleine Pope, Els Hodges, Lizzie Ellis, Gemma Hawdon, Vicki Duggan.
Summer: Madeleine Pope (Society for Endocrinology funding), Umaymah Hewitt, Emily Welby (x2; Genetics Society Funding), Jessica Dincer, Liam Henshaw
Visiting students: Nicole Terbach, Eeva Kuosmanen, Javier Arenzana
Active collaborations with:
RVC: Imelda McGonnell (chick asymmetry), Rob Fowkes (pollutants and asymmetry), Holger Volk (epilepsy).
SoP: Robert Harvey (neurodegeneration; co-supervisor of Kim Wager)
UCL: Robert Kleta, Detlef Bockenhauer, Anselm Zdebik (epilepsy)
RHUL: Robin Williams (epilepsy)
Current research funding:
Genetics Society. Applicant: C Russell, E Welby. A zebrafish model of INCL. 16 May 2011 (summer studentship). £2531. Principal Applicant.
Batten Disease Family Association Research Grant. Applicant: C Russell, RJ Harvey (SoP), K Wager (RVC). Enabling high-throughput in vivo drug discovery for Juvenile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis. May 2011-May 2012. £9761. Principal applicant.
Newlife Small Project Grant. Applicant: C Russell. Nonsense-suppressing drugs as a treatment for a subset of the neuronal ceroid lupofuscinoses. April 2010 - April 2011 (extension requested). £14,920. Principal applicant.
Bloomsbury Consortium (Ph.D. studentship). Applicants: C Russell, RJ Harvey (SoP). Generation of zebrafish models of neurodegeneration. Oct 2010 - Sept 2013. £65,000. Principal applicant.
RVC DTG (Ph.D studentship). Applicants: C Russell, I McGonnell (RVC). Development of zebrafish models of neurodegeneration for in vivo drug screening. Sept 2008 - Sept 2011. £65,000. Principal applicant.
Higher Education Academy UK Centre for Bioscience. Applicants: J Gazzard (RVCE), C Russell. Sandwich-filling: A practical guide to learning support during bioscience industrial years. June 2010-June 2011 (1 year, extension requested). £3,840. Project Partner.
Claire is part of the EDGaR research group under the umbrella of Lifestyle Research Group, found at this link.
www.rvc.ac.uk/Research/Labs/EDGaR/Research.cfm
Teaching
Claire is committed to providing excellence in teaching plus valuable learning opportunities for students, not only leading to deeper knowledge and understanding, but also preparing students for the workplace. She has a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (from KCL) and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Claire teaches Developmental Biology on the Gateway/BSc Bioveterinary Sciences core module and Genetics of Development and Developmental Disorders in the Advanced Reproduction and Development Module for 3rd Year BSc Bioveterinary Sciences. Claire also provides topics for BVetMed 1 and 2 Integrated Cocepts. Claire supervises library and laboratory projects for all years of BSc Bioveterinary Sciences, Gateway and BVetMed. Claire is also the BSc Bioveterinary Sciences 1 tutorial coordinator and tutors 1st and 2nd Year BSc Bioveterinary Sciences and BVetMed students.
Claire is the Placement Year Co-ordinator, and as such is in charge of developing ad implementing the Certificate in Workplace Learning and Research course that is now available to all BSc Bioveterinary Sciences and BVetMed students who have met the eligibility criteria. This course will allow students to take a sandwich year and do a placement working in any aspect of industry or research relevant to the Biosciences. Claire has now introduced a new four year BSc Bioveterinary Sciences course that includes the Certificate in Work-based Learning and Research.
Claire is developing links with the pharmaceutical and biotech industry to faciliate placement opportunities and welcomes approaches from industry. Please contact Claire if you are interested in providing a placement.
Selected Publications
COOPER, JD*, MOLE, SE, RUSSELL, C,* TYYNELA, J.** (2011) ‘Small animal models of NCL’ in ‘The Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses (Batten Disease)’, 2nd Edition, Ed. SE Mole, RE Williams and HH Goebel. IOS Press. Review. *joint corresponding authors; **authors are listed in alphabetical order for each chapter
BRENNAN, C., DOSCH, R., HARAMIS, A.P., LUCKENBACH, T., MARTINEZ-MORALES, J.R., MORO, E., POLOK, B., RAMESH, T.M., RUSSELL, C., ARGENTON, F., STRÄHLE, U. (2010) Report of the European Zebrafish Principal Investigator Meeting in Padua, Italy, March 2010. Zebrafish 7, 305-310. PMID: 20874494
REGAN, J.C., CONCHA, M.L., ROUSSIGNE, M., RUSSELL, C.*, WILSON, S.W*. (2009) An Fgf8- dependent bistable cell migratory event establishes CNS asymmetry. Neuron 15: 27-34 *joint corresponding authors (Recommended in Faculty of 1000)
PubMed ID 19146810
BIANCO, I. H., CARL, M., RUSSELL, C., CLARKE, J. D. & WILSON, S. W. (2008) Brain asymmetry is encoded at the level of axon terminal morphology. Neural Develop 3, 9. PubMed ID 18377638
COOPER, J. D., RUSSELL, C. & MITCHISON, H. M. (2006) Progress towards understanding disease mechanisms in small vertebrate models of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis. Biochim Biophys Acta 1762, 873-889. PubMed ID 17023146
NORTON, W. H., MANGOLI, M., LELE, Z., POGODA, H. M., DIAMOND, B., MERCURIO, S., RUSSELL, C., TERAOKA, H., STICKNEY, H. L., RAUCH, G. J., HEISENBERG, C. P., HOUART, C., SCHILLING, T. F., FROHNHOEFER, H. G., RASTEGAR, S., NEUMANN, C. J., GARDINER, R. M., STRAHLE, U., GEISLER, R., REES, M., TALBOT, W. S. & WILSON, S. W. (2005) Monorail/Foxa2 regulates floorplate differentiation and specification of oligodendrocytes, serotonergic raphe neurones and cranial motoneurones. Development 132, 645-658. PubMed ID 15677724
AIZAWA, H., BIANCO, I. H., HAMAOKA, T., MIYASHITA, T., UEMURA, O., CONCHA, M. L., RUSSELL, C., WILSON, S. W. & OKAMOTO, H. (2005) Laterotopic representation of left-right information onto the dorso-ventral axis of a zebrafish midbrain target nucleus. Curr Biol 15, 238-243. PubMed ID 15694307
TERAOKA, H., RUSSELL, C., REGAN, J., CHANDRASEKHAR, A., CONCHA, M. L., YOKOYAMA, R., HIGASHI, K., TAKE-UCHI, M., DONG, W., HIRAGA, T., HOLDER, N. & WILSON, S. W. (2004) Hedgehog and Fgf signaling pathways regulate the development of tphR-expressing serotonergic raphe neurons in zebrafish embryos. J Neurobiol 60, 275-288. PubMed ID 15281067
PAUKERT, M., SIDI, S., RUSSELL, C., SIBA, M., WILSON, S. W., NICOLSON, T. & GRUNDER, S. (2004) A family of acid-sensing ion channels from the zebrafish: widespread expression in the central nervous system suggests a conserved role in neuronal communication. J Biol Chem 279, 18783-18791. PubMed ID 14970195
RUSSELL, C. (2003) The roles of Hedgehogs and Fibroblast Growth Factors in eye development and retinal cell rescue. Vision Res 43, 899-912. PubMed ID 12668059
CONCHA, M. L., RUSSELL, C., REGAN, J. C., TAWK, M., SIDI, S., GILMOUR, D. T., KAPSIMALI, M., SUMOY, L., GOLDSTONE, K., AMAYA, E., KIMELMAN, D., NICOLSON, T., GRUNDER, S., GOMPERTS, M., CLARKE, J. D. & WILSON, S. W. (2003) Local tissue interactions across the dorsal midline of the forebrain establish CNS laterality. Neuron 39, 423-438. PubMed ID 12895418
CONCHA, M. L., BURDINE, R. D., RUSSELL, C., SCHIER, A. F. & WILSON, S. W. (2000) A nodal signaling pathway regulates the laterality of neuroanatomical asymmetries in the zebrafish forebrain. Neuron 28, 399-409. PubMed ID 11144351
KIDD, T., RUSSELL, C., GOODMAN, C. S. & TEAR, G. (1998) Dosage-sensitive and complementary functions of roundabout and commissureless control axon crossing of the CNS midline. Neuron 20, 25-33. PubMed ID 9459439
DOYLE, W. A., BURKE, J. F., CHOVNICK, A., DUTTON, F. L., RUSSELL, C., WHITTLE, J. R. & BRAY, R. C. (1996) Engineering and expression in Drosophila melanogaster of a xanthine dehydrogenase (rosy) variant. Biochem Soc Trans 24, 31S. PubMed ID 8674698
Outreach Activities
Claire is developing a school outreach program and is keen for schools to get in touch to discuss opportunities. Claire is CRB checked in Camden and is a trained Researcher in Residence.
Claire can bring basic science into your classroom in several ways:
discuss the use of animals in research; providing biological samples to examine; experimental design; performing experiments; data analysis; problem solving; as a role model; to describe university life
Having participated in the organisation of a conference with a significant outreach component with many novel features, Claire can provide advice on similar activities.