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Dr Iain Dykes

Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences

Faculty of Science

Email: I.M.Dykes@ljmu.ac.uk

Telephone: 0151 231 8100

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I am a molecular biologist with a background in embryonic development and genetics. I am particularly interested in the study of extracellular vesicles and non-coding RNA. Most of my current research relates to congenital heart disease (heart conditions present at birth), but I also study the skin and have previously worked in neuroscience.

CURRENT RESEARCH
The study of embryonic development has applications in both diagnostics and in therapeutics and I am currently working on projects in both these fields.

1. CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE DIAGNOSTICS (PhD students: Lesley Sloan, Petra Adamova)
Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect, affecting almost 1 in 100 newborn children. Prenatal diagnosis improves the prospects for these children in various ways. Currently, about half of CHD cases are missed during routine ultrasound screening. We are investigating whether a simple maternal blood test could be used for diagnosis. We recruit patients at Liverpool Women's Hospital and analyse extracellular vesicles and RNA within their blood. In parallel, we are investigating how these biomarkers are transported across the placenta into maternal blood using an in vitro model.

We discuss this work in the following podcast:



In a second project I have been working with CARE Fertility, an in vitro fertilisation clinic in Manchester. We are investigating whether there are any changes in pre-implantation embryos that might predict CHD risk.

2. RNA NANOPARTICLE THERAPEUTICS (PhD student: Adam Crockett)
Nanoparticles are synthetic particles resembling natural extracellular vesicles which can be used to deliver RNA-based drugs. I am part of a collaborative targeted doctoral programme investigating the use of such particles to treat disease. We investigate wound healing in skin.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
Prior to joining LJMU I had a long and varied research career. I did my PhD at Sussex University, which has a strong record in the use of invertebrate model organisms to study neuroscience and behaviour. Electrical synapses permit fast transmission of impulses between neurons in the human brain, but these channels were first described in an invertebrate. As a PhD student, I discovered the genes for electrical synapses from one such model organism, the medicinal leech. I demonstrated electrical transfer across the channels by using a genetic trick to insert the leech genes into frog eggs and linking two such eggs with the leech electrical synapse. I then moved to California for my first postdoc where I continued this work, discovering several more genes, before later switching to the mouse. The mouse is a good model of human genetics and embryonic development. I used "knockout" mouse lines and genomics technologies to investigate how the brain is built in the embryo, focussing on neurons that detect touch and pain. Returning to the UK, I then changed fields to begin work on the heart. I am interested in understanding how genes control the formation of the heart in the embryo and how this can go wrong in congenital disease. During postdocs at UCL (Great Ormond St Institute of Child Health) and Oxford University (Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics) I used a variety of techniques including transgenic mice, CRISPR gene editing, working with embryonic stem cells and studying genetic inheritance in patients. This allowed me to identify two novel genetic causes of congenital heart disease, mutations in either gene in patients (or in mice) lead to malformation of the heart. As a lecturer at Bristol University I began investigating epigenetic mechanisms of heart disease, such as the emerging role of non-coding RNA.

PhD SUPERVISION
Lesley Sloan (2024-27). Lead supervisor. In vitro model of placental transfer.
Adam Crockett (2023-26). Co-supervisor. RNA nanoparticle therapeutics in wound healing.
Petra Adamova (2020-24). Lead supervisor. Maternal blood biomarkers of pregnancy and congenital heart disease
(current position: Trainee Embryologist at TFP Fertility)

SUMMER PLACEMENTS
Fayeeza Ali (2022) PBS departmental summer studentship. Lead supervisor.
Izzy Hartley (2023) PBS departmental summer studentship. Lead supervisor.
(Izzy won first prize in department for her project on extracellular vesicle glycans).

HONOURS PROJECTS
I have supervised 7 MSc and 29 BSc project students at LJMU and 2 BSc project students at Bristol.

TEACHING
My teaching covers molecular biology, genetics, stem cells and embryonic development, neuroscience and cardiovascular disease. I lead two modules including the Embryology module on an MSc Clinical Embryology programme we run in collaboration with Care Fertility Manchester, an in vitro fertilisation clinic. I also lead Introduction to Molecular Biology, a module taken by undergraduates on the Biochemistry and Biotechnology programmes. In addition, I deliver further teaching on these programmes and on the BSc and MSc Biomedical Science programmes.

Degrees

2020, Liverpool John Moores University, UK, Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practise (Distinction)
2002, Sussex University, United Kingdom, Ph.D. Molecular biology
1997, University of Bristol, United Kingdom, B.Sc.Zoology

Certifications

2017, Higher Education Academy, Fellow

Academic appointments

Senior Lecturer in molecular biology, Liverpool John Moores University, 2018 - present
Lecturer in cardiovascular basic science, University of Bristol, 2016 - 2018
Postdoctoral research in congenital heart disease, University of Oxford, 2013 - 2016
Postdoctoral research in congenital heart disease, University College London (Great Ormond St Hospital Institute of Child Health), 2010 - 2013
Postdoctoral research in Neuroscience, University of California San Diego, 2002 - 2008

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