I am a graduate student in Dr Mike Blower’s lab. My research focuses on how inactivation of one X chromosome in XX cells is maintained in human cells throughout the cell cycle.
I graduated from the University of Manchester with a BSc in Biochemistry. During this time I carried out research in the lab of Professor Ian Tomlinson at Oxford University investigating the functional effects of germline mutations in driving colorectal cancer and Professor Clair Baldock at the University of Manchester investigating the binding of proteins to microfibrils. Upon graduation I continued my research interests in the role of epigenetics in heritable colorectal cancer risk in the lab of Dr Annabelle Lewis at Oxford University.
Outside of the lab I spend my free time knitting and listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks.
Publications
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Sharp JA, Sparago E, Thomas R, Alimenti K, Wang W, Blower MD. Role of the SAF-A/HNRNPU SAP domain in X chromosome inactivation, nuclear dynamics, transcription, splicing, and cell proliferation. PLoS Genet. 2025 Jun; 21(6):e1011719. PMID: 40493679; PMCID: PMC12176297; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011719
- O’Cathail SM, Wu C-H, Thomas R, Hawkins MA, Maughan TS, Lewis A. NRF2 Mediates Therapeutic Resistance to Chemoradiation in Colorectal Cancer through a Metabolic Switch. Antioxidants. 2021; 10(9):1380. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10091380
- Russell H, Kedzierska K, Buchanan DD, Thomas R, Tham E, Mints M, Keränen A, Giles GG, Southey MC, Milne RL, Tomlinson I, Church D, Spurdle AB, O’Mara TA, Lewis A. The MLH1 polymorphism rs1800734 and risk of endometrial cancer with microsatellite instability. Clin Epigenetics. 2020 Jul 8;12(1):102. doi: 10.1186/s13148-020-00889-3. Erratum in: Clin Epigenetics. 2021 Apr 1;13(1):69. PMID: 32641106; PMCID: PMC7346630.
- Emily Rayner, Mary-Anne Durin, Rachael Thomas, Daniela Moralli, Sean M. O’Cathail, Ian Tomlinson, Catherine M. Green, and Annabelle Lewis. CRISPR-Cas9 Causes Chromosomal Instability and Rearrangements in Cancer Cell Lines, Detectable by Cytogenetic Methods. The CRISPR Journal.Dec 2019.406-416.http://doi.org/10.1089/crispr.2019.0006
- Thomas, R., Trapani, D., Goodyer-Sait, L. et al. The polymorphic variant rs1800734 influences methylation acquisition and allele-specific TFAP4 binding in the MLH1 promoter leading to differential mRNA expression. Sci Rep 9, 13463 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-49952-x
