Dr Steve Millership

Early Career Scientist 2020 | Imperial College London

Dr Millership's research has focused on the mechanisms of cellular homeostasis and dysfunction using mammalian model organisms. Steve completed his PhD at Cardiff University where he demonstrated the SNARE-complex promoting potential of synucleins in neurons and adipocytes and their modulation of presynaptic and adipose function, respectively. His postdoctoral work at the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS) centred around determining the function of neuronatin, an imprinted gene previously implicated in obesity and type 2 diabetes. This work describes a fundamental new mechanism involved in synthesis of insulin in pancreatic beta cells: control of insulin prepeptide cleavage by the ER signal peptidase apparatus, mediated by neuronatin. During his postdoctoral studies, Dr. Millership also led part of an MRC-LMS institute-wide initiative to develop a series of mouse lines to longitudinally track imprinted gene expression in vivo using a bioluminescent reporter knocked in at the endogenous locus. He has recently been awarded a Wellcome Trust ISSF Springboard Fellowship that has allowed him to move from his postdoctoral laboratory to a new location at Imperial College to further develop this work. This reporter model forms a major part of his proposed future studies, investigating the effect of diet on the beta cell epigenome.