About us
The MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics (CDBG) at the University of Sheffield is internationally recognised as a leading centre for biomedical research. Originally founded in 1997 as the Centre for Developmental Genetics, the Centre was renamed in 2004 to reflect its growing emphasis on models of human development and disease.
An extensive range of techniques employed in experimental analysis of Drosophila, zebrafish and chick, including mutagenesis, transgenesis, anti-sense inhibition, cell transplantation, and real time imaging of embryos is well established in the Centre.
Our Mission
The genetic analysis of model organisms has identified many of the regulatory pathways that control normal development whilst at the same time giving remarkable new insights into the molecular basis of human disease. Developmental and pathological processes can now be analysed in vivo at the cellular and sub-cellular level using model organisms such as Drosophila, zebrafish and chick.
These organisms thus provide a powerful approach to the identification of novel candidates for genes underlying human disease and in addition provide powerful in vivo models for the functional analysis of the human genome and for drug discovery.
Our principal strategy is to use these organisms to develop novel models of neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, musculo-skeletal disease and cancer.
Our staff and funding
With fourteen full members and eight associate members, each heading an independent research laboratory, we have around 100 postdoctoral research assistants, post graduate students and technical staff. The Centre boasts some of the finest research facilities in the UK and attracts annual grant income in excess of £2m.
Core funding for the Centre is provided by the Medical Research Council (MRC) while individual research projects are supported by a number of agencies including the MRC, the BBSRC, The Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK as well as the European sixth and seventh Framework Programme.
