Dr Mitchell Cummins

Dr Mitchell Cummins

Postdoctoral Fellow
Science
School of Biotech & Biomolecular Science

I am a postdoctoral research fellow in the lab of SHARP Professor of RNA Biology John Mattick (lab website https://www.lncrna.net/).

Our primary research focuses are evolution, neurodevelopment, cognition, and the role of brain lncRNAs in these processes. To do this we combine bioinformatic (e.g. genome multi-alignment, DNA and RNA-sequencing analyses, SNP analyses), molecular (qPCR, Western blotting, RNA-seq, Mass-spec, CRISPR/Cas9 knockout, antisense oligonucleotide RNA knockdown, TREX), imaging (RNAscope, immunofluorescence) and behavioural phenotyping approaches.

I am also interested in the function of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) in animal genomes, especially in placental mammals (see http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae146) and have co-designed a program to identify UCEs called dedUCE (https://github.com/slimsuite/deduce).

I completed my PhD(Anatomy) at the University of Newcastle under supervisor Associate Professor Doug Smith investigating the blood-brain barrier (see http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11357-024-01404-9), neuroimmune pathways, and transposable elements in the aging CNS.

Location
BABS Level 3 Bioscience South
  • Journal articles | 2024
    Cummins M; Watson C; Edwards RJ; Mattick JS, 2024, 'The Evolution of Ultraconserved Elements in Vertebrates', Molecular Biology and Evolution, 41, pp. msae146, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae146
    Journal articles | 2024
    Cummins M; Watson C; Edwards RJ; Mattick JS, 2024, 'The Evolution of Ultraconserved Elements in Vertebrates.', Mol Biol Evol, 41, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae146
    Journal articles | 2024
    Cummins MJ; Cresswell ET; Bevege RJ; Smith DW, 2024, 'Aging disrupts blood–brain and blood-spinal cord barrier homeostasis, but does not increase paracellular permeability', GeroScience, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11357-024-01404-9
    Journal articles | 2020
    Mayhew JA; Cummins MJ; Cresswell ET; Callister RJ; Smith DW; Graham BA, 2020, 'Age-related gene expression changes in lumbar spinal cord: Implications for neuropathic pain', Molecular Pain, 16, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1744806920971914
  • Preprints | 2024
    Cummins MJ; Cresswell ET; Smith DW, 2024, Aging disrupts blood-brain and blood-spinal cord barrier homeostasis, but does not increase paracellular permeability, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2024.02.12.580035