Dr Richard Tyser
Emergence of form and function during early heart development
Email: rt593@cam.ac.uk
Research
The heart is the first organ to form and function during embryogenesis, essential in providing the developing embryo with sufficient oxygen and nutrients. Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect affecting almost 1 in 100 babies born in the UK.
Research in the Tyser Group explores how the mammalian heart begins to form and function during embryonic development. They use a combination of imaging and molecular based approaches to characterise cardiac progenitor cell populations, in both the human and mouse. Using this insight, they examine the mechanisms which regulate how cardiac progenitors differentiate to give rise to the functional beating heart. They are particularly focused on understanding how the onset of contraction influences heart morphology and cardiomyocyte differentiation.
As well as addressing questions of fundamental biological significance, the group’s research aims to augment therapeutic approaches to treat disease: by establishing the underlying causes of disease as well as providing a blueprint for regenerative strategies on how best to treat them.
Key Publications
- Tyser RCV, Mahammadov E, Nakanoh S, Vallier L, Scialdone A, Srinivas S. “Single cell transcriptomic characterisation of a gastrulating human embryo” Nature (2021) 600;285–289.
- Tyser RCV, Ibarra-Soria X, McDole K, Jayaram S, Godwin J, van den Brand T, Miranda A, Scialdone A, Keller PJ, Marioni JC, Srinivas S. “Characterization of a common progenitor pool of the epicardium and myocardium” Science (2021) 371.
- Tyser RCV, Miranda A, Chen C, Davidson SM, Srinivas S, Riley PR. "Calcium handling precedes cardiac differentiation to initiate the first heartbeat" eLIFE (2016) 5:e17113 PMC5059139
- Pijuan-Sala B, Griffiths J, Guibentif C, Hiscock TW, Jawaid W, Calero-Nieto FJ, Mulas C, Ibarra-Soria X, Tyser RCV, Ho DLL, Reik W, Srinivas S, Simons BD, Nichols J, Marioni JC, Göttgens B. “A singlecell molecular map of mouse gastrulation and early organogenesis” Nature (2019) 566(7745):490- 495