Long Lab

Gene Regulation in Human Craniofacial Development and Disease


Dr Nicholas Younger

Dr Nicholas Younger
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Long lab

Main focus of current work

Understanding sequence features contributing to enhancer synergy during long-range regulation of SOX9 during craniofacial development.

Biography

I graduated with a BSc Hons (1st) in Human Embryology and Developmental Biology from the University of Aberdeen before moving to the MRC Human Genetics Unit at the University of Edinburgh for my PhD. During my PhD with Dr Luke Boulter’s lab, I focused on discovering and characterising very rare driver mutations and synergistic mutation pairs in cholangiocarcinoma. This led to the discovery of NF2 as a key modifying tumour suppressor in RAS-driven bile duct cancers which promotes an aggressive squamous phenotype. Following this I worked as a Postdoctoral bioinformatician in Professor Neil Henderson’s lab where I developed scRNA, scATAC, and scMultiome methods, and contributed to a spectrum of projects generally addressing cellular mechanisms of human liver diseases. Following this I moved to my current position as a Postdoc in Dr Hannah Long’s lab.

Outside the lab

I like travelling and learning languages, cooking, and reading.

Recent publications