
Binyam Mogessie
Dr. Binyam Mogessie is a Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Dale principal investigator at the
University of Bristol. Originally from Ethiopia, Binyam studied Biochemistry and Cell
Biology as an undergraduate student at Jacobs University Bremen in Germany. He
then moved to the UK where he studied microtubule cytoskeleton organization and
dynamics in dividing human cells and differentiating skeletal muscle cells. After
receiving his PhD in Cell Biology from Institute of Cancer Research, University of
London, Binyam switched his research focus to the less explored role of the actin
cytoskeleton in chromosome segregation. His postdoctoral research at the MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and later at the Max Planck Institute for
Biophysical Chemistry in Germany revealed a new mechanism of actin-mediated
chromosome segregation in mammalian cells. Binyam’s research program in Bristol
uses mammalian models to understand how the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons
interact in space and time to prevent meiosis-derived egg and embryo aneuploidy, a
leading cause of miscarriages, developmental disorders and infertility. Understanding
cytoskeletal processes that protect eggs and embryos from aneuploidy may provide
new opportunities for future therapeutics of pregnancy failure and human infertility,
and could improve outcomes of assisted human reproduction technologies.