Mary Kay Thompson

Current Project

I joined the Davis lab in 2015 as a postdoctoral researcher , where I work investigating the role of post-transcriptional regulation in brain development. The development of the brain requires a complex series of cell fate decisions, frequently involving transcriptional regulation of key factors. I am interested in assessing how post-transcriptional processes contribute to the precise timing and outcome of these developmental transitions. The diverse expertise of the Davis lab allows me to apply a variety of approaches to this problem, including genome-wide measurements and live brain imaging.

Previous Work

Before joining the Davis lab I completed my PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where my work focused on elucidating the function of specific ribosomal proteins in translational control in yeast. Prior to my PhD I completed a B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Rice University.

Publications

Thompson MK, Kiourlappou M, Davis I. Ribo-Pop: simple, cost-effective, and widely applicable ribosomal RNA depletion. RNA. 2020 Nov;26(11):1731-1742. doi: 10.1261/rna.076562.120. Epub 2020 Aug 5. PMID: 32759389; PMCID: PMC7566562.

Cattie DJ, Richardson CE, Reddy KC, Ness-Cohn EM, Droste RD, Thompson MK, Gilbert WV, Kim DH, 2016. Mutations in nonessential eIF3k and eIF3l genes confer lifespan extension and enhanced resistance to ER stress in C. elegans. PLOS Genetics

Thompson MK, Rojas-Duran MF, Gangaramani P, Gilbert WV. "The ribosomal protein Asc1/RACK1 is required for efficient translation of short mRNAs."Elife. 2016 Apr 27;5. pii: e11154. doi: 10.7554/eLife.11154.

Vaidyanathan PP, Zinshteyn B, Thompson MK, Gilbert WV. "Protein kinase A regulates gene-specific translational adaptation in differentiating yeast." RNA. 2014 Jun;20(6):912-22. doi: 10.1261/rna.044552.114. Epub 2014 Apr 23.

Contact Details

email: mary.thompson@bioch.ox.ac.uk