I’m Beck and I’m a 2nd year PhD student in the Hammond lab. Outside of the lab, I love to practice archery with my trusty bow Midna, go hiking on beautiful, precarious peaks in the Lake District and weightlifting in the gym. My research interests are very broad, but I’m mostly interested in cell behaviour, as ever since I was a child I thought it was amazing how cells could interact with each other and their environment to protect the body. 

 

My project title: ‘Differential circadian rhythm regulated cellular responses during bone regeneration and repair in young and old zebrafish’. 

 

Circadian rhythms (CR) govern the regulation of many important physiological processes within the body. Thus, dysregulation of this rhythm can have important consequences. For example, individuals with an abnormal CR such as aged individuals and shift workers show a greater incidence of fracture, poor prognosis and frailty (Feskanich et al, 2009; Cai et al, 2023). Interestingly, this effect has been replicated in rodents, where a dampening of circadian rhythms has been linked to premature ageing phenotypes (Kolker et al, 2003; Kondratov et al, 2006). Despite these observations, the mechanisms underlying these links are not well understood. As a result, my project aims to understand these mechanisms further by studying the cell behaviours of osteoblasts and neutrophils at the fracture site in zebrafish.