Dr Jessica Powell on researching the genetic basis of tolerance to Theileria infection in indigenous African cattle breeds

Please tell us about your research project and how your work involves genomics or makes use of genomic technologies.

My research project aims to develop high throughput pipelines to identify and validate regions of the genome that are responsible for complex traits in livestock. We are particularly interested in the regions of the genome responsible for making proteins (i.e. protein-coding genes) as well as the regions that regulate the expression of these genes. As a proof-of-principle, we are developing pipelines to identify DNA sequences in the cattle genome involved in the host response to a disease called East Coast Fever (ECF), which is caused by the Theileria parasite. ECF is a major constraint on cattle production in sub-Saharan Africa and is estimated to be responsible for over 1.1 million cattle deaths per year. Cattle from non-endemic areas are highly susceptible to ECF and usually die within 3-4 weeks. However, some East African cattle breeds have developed high levels of heritable tolerance to the disease. Previous work has identified a large genomic region linked with ECF tolerance but determining which specific DNA sequences are responsible is very challenging. To identify these sequences, I aim to use genome-editing to ‘knockout’ each protein-coding gene from the genome of cattle cells infected with Theileria in the lab to see what effect each gene has on the cell’s ability to survive and proliferate. I am also using a method called massively parallel reporter assays to assess how sequence variation in possible regulatory regions affects gene expression. 

Please summarise your previous work and career so far.

I did my undergraduate degree in Veterinary Biosciences at the University of Surrey which I completed in 2016. During my undergraduate I did a one-year internship at The Pirbright Institute where I investigated the degree of natural genomic variation in a cattle natural killer (NK) cell receptor and its effect on ligand binding and NK cell activation. I then moved to Edinburgh to do my PhD in infection and immunity at The Roslin Institute where I studied differences in the epigenome of different immune cell subsets from three cattle breeds from different parts of the world. After that I worked at the University of Cambridge for two years as a postdoctoral researcher studying infection-specific reprogramming of RNA translation in mouse macrophages during Salmonella infection. I then moved back to Edinburgh last year where I returned to The Roslin Institute as a postdoctoral core scientist.

What inspired you to follow your career path?

I grew up on a farm, specifically a dairy farm, and so it’s quite funny that I now study cows for my job. I’ve always loved animals, but after two weeks work experience at a vet practice I knew being a vet wasn’t for me. However, I was really interested in the science, so I decided to do a degree in Veterinary Biosciences. During my degree, I really enjoyed my placement at The Pirbright Institute and saw how people were using computer coding in their work. I thought I want to be able to do that! So I looked for a PhD that combined doing experiments in the lab with bioinformatics (in case it turned out that I was either really bad at coding or I just hated it). Turns out that I really like doing both! So after my PhD I found positions that allowed me to do both while also doing cool research.

If you could have tea with anyone (alive or dead), who would it be? What would you talk about?

I’m from Shropshire, a rural county in England on the Welsh border. It’s also the county where Charles Darwin was born. In fact, he was born in Shrewsbury, which was the nearest large town to me when I was growing up so I’d love to have tea with him. Coincidently, he also studied in Edinburgh and Cambridge. Not only could we discuss the places we’ve lived but I’d also love to talk to him about his theory of evolution and tell him how much of an impact it has had in the field of biology!

What is the most unusual thing you have done during your career?

During my PhD I was lucky enough to travel to Kenya and Brazil to collect samples from different cattle populations. So I’d probably say working in those countries to isolate different immune cell subsets from cattle blood is the most unusual thing I’d done during my career so far.

What do you like best about your job? What do you like the least?

I love that every day is different and that you’re always learning something new. The international travel is also a great perk of the job! You can feel a lot of pressure as an academic, particularly to publish papers, which is one of my least favourite things about my job. 

How do you spend your time outside of research? Is there anything else you would like to tell us about? 

I love to bake (a hobby my colleagues are keen for me to keep up) and make at least one cake most weeks. To compensate for all the cake eating I also like to go to the gym. I enjoy visiting friends and family, and hosting dinners and game nights. I also love to go for hikes and nature walks, which Scotland is great for. 

Links

The Roslin Institute