ComBio2018 poster success for PhD student
Martin Estermann, a 1st year PhD student from the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, has been awarded the International Society of Differentiation Beverly McKinnell Student Award for his poster at the recent ComBio2018 joint annual meeting.
Mr Estermann’s poster was titled ‘TGIF1, a new player in the female gonadal development’. The gene TGIF1 has been identified as a possible candidate gene involved in female gonad development.
“What I presented was a characterisation of the gene expression in the gonads, where we confirmed that TGIF1 was expressed more highly in females rather than males,” Mr Estermann said.
“We overexpressed this gene in male undifferentiated gonads and it generated female-like structures. This indicates that TGIF1 has a role in ovarian differentiation and development,” he said.
“We will continue to study TGIF1 to determine the mechanism of action of this gene in gonadal development and differentiation.”
In early development, the gonad has an undifferentiated state: it develops similarly between males and females and is morphologically identical in both sexes. There is a moment in development where the gonad has to commit to one of the two different developmental programs – to become testis or ovary. This process is known as gonadal sex differentiation and involves different signalling pathways that represses the induction of the opposite program.
“My PhD project aims to find new genes involved in this process using RNA-seq and Single Cell RNA-seq data,” Mr Estermann said.
Mr Estermann is completing his PhD in the Comparative Development and Evo-Devo Laboratory, run by Associate Professor Craig Smith.
146 posters were submitted at the ComBio2018 meeting. Congratulations to Mr Estermann on his achievement.
About the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute
Committed to making the discoveries that will relieve the future burden of disease, the newly established Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University brings together more than 120 internationally-renowned research teams. Our researchers are supported by world-class technology and infrastructure, and partner with industry, clinicians and researchers internationally to enhance lives through discovery.