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I obtained my PhD at Edinburgh University. After post-doctoral periods in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard, and the Department of Zoology at UCL, I joined the Division of Biology at Caltech in 1978. I returned to the UK to the MRC Biophysics Unit at KCL (1983-88), then the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (1988-98), and then the Biochemistry Department where I am currently MRC Non-clinical Research Professor.
Research Interests
Adult urodele amphibians, or salamanders, are champions at regeneration. Regeneration in adult urodeles such as the newt depends on the plasticity of differentiated cells remaining at the site of injury or tissue removal. We investigate the basic mechanisms underlying such plasticity (particularly in skeletal muscle cells), and also to what extent they may operate in mammalian cells. A second project is to understand the molecular basis of proximodistal identity in limb regeneration. We have identified a molecule which is the first cell surface protein to be implicated in the local cell-cell interactions mediating positional identity.
Current research in these areas can be found in the eight publications below.
Plasticity and reprogramming of differentiated cells in amphibian regeneration.
JP Brockes & A Kumar, Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 3, 566-74 (2002) pdf file
Y Imokawa & JP Brockes, Current Biology, 13, 877-881 (2003) pdf file
A Kumar, C Velloso, Y Imokawa & JP Brockes, PLoS Biology, 2(8), 1168-1176 (2004) link to article
A Duckmanton, A Kumar, Y-T Chang & JP Brockes, Chemistry & Biology, 12, 1117-1126 (2005) pdf file
The newt orthologue of CD59 is implicated in proximodistal identity during amphibian limb regeneration.
S Morais da Silva, PB Gates & JP Brockes, Developmental Cell, 3, 547-555 (2002) pdf file
Appendage regeneration in adult vetebrates and implications for regenerative medicine.
JP Brockes and A Kumar, Science, 310, 1919-1923 (2005) link to article
Molecular Basis for the Nerve Dependence of Limb Regeneration in an Adult Vertebrate.
A Kumar, JW. Godwin, PB. Gates, AA Garza-Garcia, JP. Brockes, Science, 318, 722-727 (2007) link to article Winner of the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize (2008)
Comparative Aspects of Animal Regeneration.
Jeremy P. Brockes and Anoop Kumar, Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology, 24, 525-549 (2008) link to article
 A hybrid muscle cell containing newt and mammalian (pink) nuclei. The mammalian nuclei return to the cell cycle after stimulation of such cells. |
