Biochemical Journal Young Investigator Award

Rachel Allison

After graduating in 2001 from the University of Edinburgh with a first class honours degree in Molecular Biology, Rachel Allison moved to Sydney, Australia, where she spent 18 months in the laboratory of Neural Structure and Function under Professor Richard Bandler and Dr Kevin Keay. It was here that Rachel established a small molecular lab and investigated the response of neurons in the peri-aqueductal grey area of the mid-brain in rats to nociceptive stimuli. In 2003, Rachel started her PhD under the supervision of Dr Nancy Standart at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, where research concentrates on the localization and translational repression of maternal mRNAs during Xenopus oogenesis. During Rachel’s PhD, she characterized two novel Xenopus proteins, XStaufens 1 and 2. Rachel determined the expression pattern of these proteins during oogenesis and embryogenesis and showed them to localize to the vegetal pole of the oocyte. These proteins are part of large RNP complexes within the oocyte, and using immunoprecipitation and protein sequencing Rachel identified a number of proteins that interact with XStaufen 1. These proteins implicate a role for XStaufen1 in translational regulation of maternal mRNAs during oogenesis, and this has been confirmed in functional tethering assays.