Heather Coker

Heather studied for a BSc and then a DPhil in biochemistry at King’s College London. Her DPhil studies in Hannah Gould’s group were centred on investigating the molecular genetics behind antibody maturation in response to allergy. This led her to her first post-doc at Clare Hall, Cancer Research UK, studying the role of the AID protein in orchestrating the complex recombination of antibody V(D)J genes and its relationship with DNA methylation and epigenetic reprogramming.

Keen to further understand the effects of epigenetics upon large chromosomal domains, Heather joined the lab in 2008. She has developed a particular interest in using super-resolution imaging to understand the dynamics and behaviour of Xist RNA as it silences the X chromosome.