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ePortfolio of Thomas Rawlings

Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research PhD, WMS (Oct 2016 - Present)

My PhD is being supervised by Professor Jan Brosens of the Warwick Medical School, Department of Reproductive Health. My research focuses on developing a novel model for embryo implantation utilising patient-derived endometrial stem cells. These are used to form 3D structures in culture, called organoids, in the hope that these can recapitulate the human endometrium for modeling implantation.

Pregnancy strictly depends on successful implantation, i.e. embedding of the embryo into the lining of the womb. This lining, known as the endometrium, protects and nourishes the embryo and allows the formation of the placenta. When perturbed, aberrant implantation leads to a spectrum of disorders, including implantation failure, miscarriage and late pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia.

Unfortunately, modelling human implantation is complex. Ethically, it is impossible to study this process in women, and animal models have major limitations. Therefore, developing a novel model could potentially aid our understanding of the early interactions between the embryo and the endometrium, and therefore possibly reveal new ways to prevent common and devastating pregnancy disorders.

Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research MSc, WMS (Sept 2015 - Sept 2016)

This year, I completed an MSc in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research (IBR), as the first year in the Medical Research Council (MRC)-funded doctoral training partnership. The MSc consisted of six months of interdisciplinary taught modules (including biology, chemistry, mathematics and computer science) followed by two three-month mini projects:

Project 1 supervised by Dr Karuna Sampath:
Developing a novel CRISPR/Cas9 tool for visualising RNA localisation in vivo.

Project 2 supervised by Professor Jan Brosens:
Establishing uterine organoids from stem cells.

Received the prize for Best MSc Poster Presentation (presenting data from Project 1) at the 2016 Warwick University MRC DTP Student Conference.

Academic History

Undergraduate Degree

BSc in Biomedical Science (Hons), First Class, at the University of Warwick.

Final year project supervised by Professor Brian Thomas: Light Quality and Flower Development.

URSS funded summer project (Summer 2014) supervised by Dr Andre Pires da Silva: Gonad Development and Ageing Differences in Hermaphrodite, Female and Transgendered Female Nematode Species Rhabditis sp. SB347.

Profile

Thomas Rawlings

T.Rawlings@warwick.ac.uk