Dr Chris Helliwell: investigating plant molecular biology

Dr Chris Helliwell researches polycomb group proteins in plant growth and development and the roles of miRNAs in rice grain development.

• 5 April 2006 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications

Current activities 

Dr Chris Helliwell holds a CEO’s Science Leader Scheme Fellowship.

His two main research areas are:

• the role of polycomb group proteins in plant growth and development 
• investigating the roles of miRNAs in rice grain development.

  Dr Chris Helliwell holds a CEO’s Science Leader Scheme Fellowship.

Polycomb proteins are regulators of chromatin structure that act as multi-protein complexes. They play important roles in seed development, vegetative growth and flowering time.

The aim of the group's research is to investigate the scope of the processes under polycomb regulation and the protein composition of the polycomb complexes involved.

miRNAs are a relatively recently discovered class of small RNAs that regulate expression of genes by sequence-specific targeting of mRNAs. We are investigating the roles of miRNAs in regulating rice grain development.

Background

Dr Helliwell is molecular biologist by training. He has worked on:

• isolating genes
• encoding gibberellin biosynthesis enzymes
• the application of RNAi in plant functional genomics
• the regulation of flowering time by vernalization.

Academic qualifications

Dr Helliwell holds the following qualifications:

• Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, United Kingdom
• Doctor of Philosophy in Plant Science, also from Cambridge University.

See a list of scientific papers published by Dr Helliwell in his publishing history.