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Professor Jeremy Brockes FRS

MRC Research Professor

Tel: 020 7679 4483
E-mail:
Room 417, Darwin Building

Jeremy Brockes

Research



My interests are in the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying regeneration in salamanders. A major focus is on limb regeneration, but there is also some activity on lens regeneration. We work on positional identity in limb regeneration, the dependence of regeneration on the nerve, and the role of thrombin activation in linking regeneration and tissue injury.

Teaching

I give lectures on various topics in third year and tutorials in second year, as well as taking third year students for lab projects.

Reference

JP. Brockes and A Kumar. (2005)  Appendage regeneration in adult vertebrates and implications for regenerative medicine. Science 310, 1919-1923.

A Kumar, JW. Godwin, PB. Gates, AA Garza-Garcia, JP. Brockes. (2007) Molecular Basis for the Nerve Dependence of Limb Regeneration in an Adult Vertebrate. Science, 318, 722-727.   Winner of the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize (2008)

Jeremy P. Brockes and Anoop Kumar.  (2008) Comparative Aspects of Animal Regeneration.  Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology, 24, 525-549.

Click here to watch a talk by Jeremy Brockes at the launch of the UCL Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine on April 24th, 2009

Click here to watch a talk at Medicine Grand Round November 25th, 2010. "How do salamanders regenerate their limb, and why don't we? "

Looking for an interview with Clint Eastwood?  Try the website of my niece, award-winning journalist and author, Emma Brockes -  http://www.emmabrockes.com/index.htm

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION I obtained my PhD at Edinburgh University. After post-doctoral periods in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard, and the Department of Zoology at UCL, I joined the Division of Biology at Caltech in 1978. I returned to the UK to the MRC Biophysics Unit at KCL (1983-88), then the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (1988-98), and then the Biochemistry Department where I am currently MRC Non-clinical Research Professor.

Research Interests
Adult urodele amphibians, otherwise known as salamanders, are champions at regeneration among vertebrates. The repertoire in an adult animal includes the limbs and tail, the jaws, ocular tissues such as the lens and retina, the intestine and sections of the heart. We investigate the basic cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying salamander regeneration, and try to understand why this repertoire occurs in salamanders and not in mammals. Recent work has focussed on a cell surface protein implicated in proximodistal identity in limb regeneration and its secreted ligand which is implicated in the nerve dependence of regeneration. We study how these molecules operate at the level of molecular cell biology using cell culture and animal approaches. Their molecular phylogeny has provided the first evidence that regeneration in salamander depends to some extent on local evolution, and this suggests new approaches to promoting mammalian regeneration.  These questions are considered in the seven references below.


The newt orthologue of CD59 is implicated in proximodistal identity during amphibian limb regeneration.
S Morais da Silva, PB Gates & JP Brockes, Developmental Cell, 3, 547-555 (2002) pdf file

Blassberg RA, Garza-Garcia A, Janmohamed A, Gates PB, Brockes JP. J Cell Sci. 124, 47-56 (2011) Pdf file

Appendage regeneration in adult vetebrates and implications for regenerative medicine.

JP Brockes and A Kumar, Science, 310, 1919-1923 (2005) link to article

Molecular Basis for the Nerve Dependence of Limb Regeneration in an Adult Vertebrate.
A Kumar, JW. Godwin, PB. Gates, AA Garza-Garcia, JP. Brockes, Science, 318, 722-727 (2007) link to article Winner of the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize (2008)

A Kumar, JP Delgado, PB Gates, G Neville, A Forge and JP Brockes, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108, 13588 - 13593 (2011).  Link to article

Comparative Aspects of Animal Regeneration.
Jeremy P. Brockes and Anoop Kumar, Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology, 24, 525-549 (2008) link to article

Garza-Garcia AA, Driscoll PD, Brockes JP, Integrative and Comparative Biology, 50, 528-535 (2010) pdf file

 

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