Petra was honoured with the accolade at the joint spring meeting of the British Society for Developmental Biology on Developmental Genetics, in April 2024 at the University of Warwick. Next to Petra’s scientific achievements, the committee also praised her work as a leader and mentor, particularly as Head of the (then) LMS Epigenetics Section, interim director of the MRC LMS, and campaigning for fundamental discovery research to remain at the heart of the scientific endeavour. 

Petra said of the accolade

“I feel truly humbled by this recognition by my peers in the developmental biology field. As we all know, science is a team effort – so this award really goes to all my colleagues that I have either been fortunate to work with in my team or have inspired me on my way.”

Petra first became interested in DNA methylation as an undergraduate, studying the activity of integrated viral sequences. Methylation (the addition of a methyl chemical group – CH3) to the DNA double helix was the first described form of “epigenetic” (not coded for in the DNA sequence)  modification. Epigenetic changes to DNA, such as methylation can switch genes on and off and it was DNA methylation that was shown to be responsible for silencing of viral sequences that are found integrated in the vertebrate DNA.  Fascination by this additional layer of regulation of gene activity has guided Petra’s research ever since. During her PhD, she was the first to show that developing germ cells in the mammalian embryos undergo complete resetting of all epigenetic information. Conceptually this distinguishes epigenetic regulation in the germ line (sperm or egg producing cells which will ultimately give rise to the next generation) from normal body cells.  

Throughout her years as a postdoctoral scientist in Azim Surani’s lab at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge Petra further focussed on understanding of the dynamic changes of global DNA methylation levels during embryonic development, showing a connection to the activation of DNA repair pathways and to overall reconfiguration of how DNA is packaged in the germ cells. Following her move to the MRC LMS in 2009, Petra’s laboratory continued to investigate how epigenetic information is erased and propagated between the generations and how this epigenetic regulation can be impacted by the environment.  The work from her team showed that the developing germ cells need to erase all epigenetic information in order to gain the capacity to undergo meiosis  (the process by which a normal cell with two copies of DNA, halves the number to give rise to sperm cells or eggs with a single copy); they also showed  and thus critical for eventual formation of the gametes – egg and sperm.

Petra’s key contributions to our understanding of epigenetic regulation in vivo and in vitro cannot be understated – Petra is also highly collaborative, and an excellent colleague and leader, as evidenced by her prize for mentoring and plaudits she received as leader of the LMS Epigenetics section,  and her role as Interim and now Deputy Director of the LMS Institute.   

We’re delighted and proud that Petra has been recognised for her vital and ground-breaking work in epigenetic reprogramming and developmental biology with the Cheryll Tickle Medal 2024. 

The Cheryll Tickle Medal is awarded annually to a mid-career, female scientist for outstanding achievements in the field of Developmental Biology. The medal is received at the BSDB Spring Meeting, where the recipient presents the Cheryll Tickle Award Lecture.