Alice Neal
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
My research focuses on the signalling and transcriptional pathways regulating arteriovenous specification and differentiation in the early embryo.
Although it has been hypothesized that endothelial cells are venous by default while arterial identity is acquired, growing evidence indicates that venous endothelial cell identity is instead dependent upon dynamic gene regulation. My recent research identified multiple vein-specific gene enhancers, and elucidated a BMP-SMAD1/5:SMAD4 regulatory pathway governing early vein specification.
I am currently funded as part of the De Val lab British Heart Foundation Senior Fellowship.