International researcher leads new lab with the Centre for Stem Cell Systems

The Centre for Stem Cell Systems welcomes Dr Mike Clark, who has been recruited to establish and lead the transcriptomics group within the Centre and the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience.

Mike is an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellow who joins the Centre after four years at the University of Oxford. His research fuses transcriptomics and neuroscience to investigate gene structure, expression and function in the human brain, using stem cell models of brain development and neurological disorders.

Mike has a particular interest in risk genes involved in neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. By determining what roles these risk genes perform in brain cells and how their expression and function might alter disease risk, his research aims to better understand the causes of complex human disease.

Mike is applying long-read Nanopore sequencing to discover the structure of large neuronal genes. He is also addressing important questions in stem cell biology and genomics more generally, using the Nanopore GridION X5 DNA/RNA sequencer which will be purchased soon as part of the NHMRC MDHS Large Equipment Scheme.

Mike is excited to be joining the Centre for Stem Cell Systems and The University of Melbourne.

"Few places can offer such an exciting and stimulating research environment and I think this will be the ideal setting for me to develop my research program".

Centre Director Professor Christine Wells says “The Centre for Stem Cell Systems aims to provide an environment where talented early career researchers can thrive. We are particularly pleased to welcome Mike Clark, who brings a strongly collaborative ethos, great technology know-how and who is using stem cell models of neurons to understand how the brain develops”.

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Mike Clark

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