Department of Biomedical Science

Dr Tanya Whitfield

Senior Lecturer

MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics
Department of Biomedical Science
The University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield S10 2TN
United Kingdom

• Senior Lecturer
• Room: C21 Firth Court
• Telephone: +44 (0) 114 222 2350
• Fax: +44 114 222 2788

email : t.whitfield@sheffield.ac.uk

Research Interests

My group uses the zebrafish as a model organism to study the development of the inner ear in the embryo and the genetic causes of deafness. We are interested in early patterning and evolution of otic structures, disease modelling and fluid regulation in the ear.

Read more (link to the Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics)

History

• 2004-present: Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield.
• 1997-2004: Lecturer, University of Sheffield.
• 1994-1997: Imperial Cancer Research Fund Postdoctoral Fellow and Linacre College Junior Research Fellow, Developmental Biology Unit, University of Oxford, and Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. Research Advisor: Dr Julian Lewis.
• 1994: EMBO Short Term Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tuebingen. Research Advisor: Professor Christiane Nuesslein-Volhard.
• 1992-1994: Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Zoology and Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research Campaign Institute, University of Cambridge. Research Advisor: Professor Chris Wylie.
• 1989-1992: Wellcome PhD student, Department of Zoology and Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research Campaign Institute, University of Cambridge. Research Advisor: Professor Chris Wylie.
• 1986-1989: BA Natural Sciences (Zoology), University of Cambridge.

Activities and Distinctions

• Invited speaker at national and international meetings (recent meetings include: Fish sensory systems workshop, Minerve; UK-Asia Pacific Developmental Biology Network Joint meeting, Kobe; EMBO lecture course, Barcelona.)
• Committee member, UK Genetics Society
• Regular reviewer for scientific journals and grant awarding bodies.

Funding

• Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
• Medical Research Council (MRC)

Recent Publications

• Abbas L, Whitfield TT (2009).
  Nkcc1 (Slc12a2) is required for the regulation of endolymph volume in the otic vesicle and swim bladder volume in the zebrafish larva.
  Development 136, 2837-48.
• Hammond KL, Whitfield TT (2009).
  Expression of zebrafish hip: Response to Hedgehog signalling, comparison with ptc1 expression, and possible role in otic patterning.
  Gene Expr Patterns 9, 391-6.
• Hammond, K. L., Loynes, H. E., Mowbray, C., Runke, G., Hammerschmidt, M., Mullins, M. C., Hildreth, V., Chaudhry, B. and Whitfield, T. T.
  A Late Role for bmp2b in the Morphogenesis of Semicircular Canal Ducts in the Zebrafish Inner Ear
  PLoS ONE, 4, e4368
• Dutton, K., Abbas, L., Spencer, J., Brannon, C., Mowbray, C., Kelsh, R. N. and Whitfield, T. T. (2009).
  A zebrafish model for Waardenburg syndrome type IV reveals diverse roles for Sox10 in the otic vesicle.
  Disease Models and Mechanisms 2, 68-83.
• Hammond, K. L., Baxendale, S., McCauley, D. W., Ingham, P. W. and Whitfield, T. T. (2009).
  Expression of patched, prdm1 and engrailed in the lamprey somite reveals conserved responses to Hedgehog signalling.
  Evol.Dev. 11, 27-41