Mr Caleb Batley

About

I recently graduated from the University of Oxford after undertaking 4-year (integrated masters) degree in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. Throughout my undergraduate degree I took a particular interest in cancer biology and the cell cycle, specifically how disruption of mitotic events can result in cancer. During the final year of my undergraduate degree, I conducted a research project in the Barr lab investigating how Protein Phosphatase 6 (PP6) regulated Aurora A activity can control kinetochore localization of the astrin protein complex. This project involved using techniques such as immunofluorescence microscopy to observe differences in protein localization between wild-type cells and those which lack the catalytic subunit of PP6.

After a successful research year in the Barr lab I chose to pursue my research in the lab through a PhD. 

Research

In the Barr lab as a PhD student my project focuses on understanding how cells detect and respond to defects during mitosis which prolong the duration of cell division. Extended mitosis is a characteristic of aneuploid tumour cells which have adapted to bypass this protective mechanism. My research aims to explore how healthy cells mount and sustain a response to prolonged mitosis and how these mechanisms are abolished in aneuploid cancers.