Tom Burdon

Obtained a first class degree in Biology at the University of York in 1984, and completed my PhD at the University of Nottingham in 1988. To develop my research interests in molecular genetics of mammary gland differentiation, I took post-doctoral positions at NIH (Bethesda MD/Beltsville MD) and then at the Roslin Institute. During the latter post-doc, I became interested in how cytokine signalling regulated differentiation, and decided to join Austin Smiths laboratory (CGR/UoE) to study the role of LIF signalling in embryonic stem cells (ESCs). In 2002 I established my laboratory at the Roslin Institute investigating the control of growth and differentiation of embryo derived stem cells. Since 2008 the lab has exploited rat ESCs as a tool for rat transgenesis and elucidating new mechanisms that control self-renewal and pluripotency. Currently we are continuing these basic studies, and extending our work to developing novel stem cell systems for directed differentiation and the functional analysis of genetic variation in livestock species.