H. Beverley Osborne Author Bio
H. Beverley Osborne – Editor In Chief Of Biology Of The Cell
After a obtaining a degree in physics from the University of London in 1971, Dr Osborne started his research work at the French Centre for Molecular Genetics at Gif-sur-Yvette near Paris and subsequently moved to the Atomic Energy Commission biology laboratories in Grenoble.
During this period he was involved in innovative research to characterize, both biochemically and structurally, the integral membrane protein rhodopsin, the light-sensitive protein in retinal rods. Following his Doctorat d’Etat in Natural Sciences in 1978 he moved to more cellular research, initially during postdoctoral work at the Research Institute of the Scripps Clinic at La Jolla (California, USA) and then after returning to Grenoble.
His research project at this time was concerned with identifying molecular changes associated with induced erythroleukemic cell differentiation. This research led to the characterization of changes in intracellular polyamine concentrations that were required for this differentiation process. During this time he developed an interest in the cellular changes that control gene expression at a post-transcriptional level.
To continue this line of research he moved to the University of Rennes in 1986. Since then, his major research interests have been first, to describe at a molecular level, the elements that control the translational and stability of maternal mRNA in early embryos, and secondly, to evaluate the biological importance of the characterized regulatory pathways. Of particular note is the characterization of a regulatory pathway that causes the rapid deadenylation and translational repression of mRNAs containing a cis-acting sequence element (Embryo Deadenylation ElemeNt, EDEN). Inactivation of the necessary RNA-binding protein (EDEN-BP) demonstrated that this regulatory pathway is important for somitogenesis is Xenopus embryos. The current major interests of his research group in Rennes are two-fold. First, the large-scale identification of mRNA targets for the EDEN-dependent pathway, which should allow a better understanding of the phenotypes caused by the functional inhibition of this pathway. Secondly, using both molecular and biochemical approaches to characterize the EDEN-dependent regulatory mechanism at a molecular level.