Dr Caitlin McQueen
Lecturer
Caitlin joined University Centre Shrewsbury as a Lecturer in 2022. She teaches across modules for BSc Biosciences and MSc Biotechnology courses. Caitlin’s research interests are in developmental biology and molecular biology, with particular interest in muscle and limb development.
Caitlin completed her undergraduate at the University of York in 2014. She remained at York whilst completing her thesis entitled “Investigating the coordinated transcriptional networks regulating Xenopus myogenesis” receiving her doctorate in 2018. Caitlin then moved to the University of Sheffield to study limb development. Here she carried out research for a number of projects, including investigating the role of Shh signalling in regulating the specification of evolutionarily conserved flight feathers during development, detailed 3D mapping of limb neuromuscular networks and more recently, developed an ex vivo culture system to investigate the ability of limb cells to maintain developmental timing in the absence of cues from the wider embryo.
Caitlin teaches a range of modules across the undergraduate BSc and MSc Biotechnology courses at UCS. She is module lead for MD5015 Metabolism, MD6002 Gene Regulation, MD6004 Cell Membrane Biology, MD6007 Protein Interactions and MD7817 Emerging Molecular Therapies in Medicine.
Caitlin’s research interests are focused within the field of developmental biology and embryology, with particular interest in regulation of muscle differentiation and patterning, limb development and the regulation of developmental timing.
Sedas Perez S*, McQueen C*, Stainton H, Pickering J, Chinnaiya K, Saiz-Lopez P, Placzek M, Ros MA, Towers M. (2023) Fgf signalling triggers an intrinsic mesodermal timer that determines the duration of limb patterning. Nat Commun 14, 5841. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41457-6 (*) equal contribution Fgf signalling triggers an intrinsic mesodermal timer that determines the duration of limb patterning | Nature Communications
McQueen C, Pownall ME (2017) An analysis of MyoD-dependent transcription using CRISPR/Cas9 gene targeting in Xenopus tropicalis embryos. Mech Dev; 146, 1-9.
McQueen C, Hughes GL, Pownall ME (2019) Skeletal muscle differentiation drives a dramatic downregulation of RNA polymerase III activity and differential expression of Polr3g isoforms. Dev Biol. 454(1):74-84.
Busby L, Aceituno C 5 , McQueen C 5 , Rich CA, Ros MA, Towers M (2020) Sonic hedgehog specifies flight feather positional information in avian wings. Development; 147(9):dev188821.
McQueen C, Towers M. (2020) Establishing the pattern of the vertebrate limb. Development;147(17):dev177956.
PhD “Investigating the coordinated transcriptional networks regulating Xenopus myogenesis” (BBSRC White Rose DTP for Mechanistic Biology), University of York
BSc Hons Molecular Cell Biology, University of York