Dr Timothy Fulton

Profile

I completed my Undergraduate and Master’s degree in Genetics at the University of Sheffield before working as a Research Assistant at the Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge in the research group of Ben Steventon. I remained in this research group to complete my PhD as a Vice Chancellor’s Scholar at Trinity Hall. Alongside my research, I also taught small group tutorials for first and second year Biology and Medical Science students and third year Genetics students.

In my role as Director of Teaching and Learning (Biomedical Sciences Programmes) I am responsible for the organisation and management of the undergraduate Biomedical Sciences Programmes, taught by the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.  I chair the Programme Teaching Group, sit on the School Education Committee (SEC) and School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences-Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Joint Executive. In addition to this role, I am also SBBS's Deputy Director of Admissions, attending the Faculty Recruitment and Admissions Group. 

I received an SBBS Excellence in Education award in 2023, and was shortlisted for two University of Cambridge Students’ Union Teaching Prizes in 2020 and 2021. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Undergraduate Teaching

I organise the following modules:

• Genetics (BMD164)

I teach on the following modules:

• Molecular Genetics (BIO163)
• Physiology (BIO125)
• Practical Biology (BIO192)
• Practical Biochemistry (BIO198)
• Essential Skills in Biomedical Sciences (BMD100)
• Biomedical Physiology (BMD121)
• Biomedical Physiology II (BMD221)
• Structured Research Projects (BMD604)

Research

Research Interests:

My research to date investigates how cells understand their position with developing tissues, and therefore how cell fates are determined in space and time. I have worked in several model systems, both plant and vertebrate to address these questions. Using Arabidopsis thaliana I investigated the regulation of patterning of stomata on the underside of leaves in order to generate rice crops with increased drought tolerance and water use efficiency. Following this I began to investigate the patterning of vertebrate embryos during somitogenesis and gastrulation using the zebrafish embryo as a model system. My research uses advanced quantitative microscopy on live and fixed samples as well as traditional embryological approaches.

Publications

Please see Dr Fulton’s Google Scholar Profile.

Fulton, T., Speiss, K., Thomson, L., Wang, Y., Clark, B., Hwang, S., Paige, B., Verd, B., and Steventon, B. (2022). Cell Rearrangement Generates Pattern Emergence as a Function of Temporal Morphogen Exposure. BioRxiv 2021.02.05.429898.

Spiess, K., Fulton, T., Hwang, S., Toh, K., Saunders, D., Paige, B., Steventon, B., and Verd, B. (2022). Approximated Gene Expression Trajectories (AGETs) for Gene Regulatory Network Inference on Cell Tracks. BioRxiv 2022.01.12.476060.

Fulton, T., Trivedi, V., Attardi, A., Anlas, K., Dingare, C., Arias, A.M., and Steventon, B. (2020). Axis Specification in Zebrafish Is Robust to Cell Mixing and Reveals a Regulation of Pattern Formation by Morphogenesis. Current Biology 30.

Fulton, T., Trivedi, V., Attardi, A., and Steventon, B. (2020). Traditional Embryology with Modern Imaging Approaches: Investigating Morphogenetic Feedback on Pattern Formation - The Node.

Fulton, T., Lenz, M.O., Muresan, L., Lancaster, C., Horton, E., and Steventon, B. (2018). Long-term in toto cell tracking using lightsheet microscopy of the zebrafish tailbud. Wellcome Open Research 3, 163.

Attardi, A., Fulton, T., Florescu, M., Shah, G., Muresan, L., Lenz, M.O., Lancaster, C., Huisken, J., van Oudenaarden, A., and Steventon, B. (2018). Neuromesodermal progenitors are a conserved source of spinal cord with divergent growth dynamics. Development 145.

Caine, R.S., Yin, X., Sloan, J., Harrison, E.L., Mohammed, U., Fulton, T., Biswal, A.K., Dionora, J., Chater, C.C., Coe, R.A., et al. (2018). Rice with reduced stomatal density conserves water and has improved drought tolerance under future climate conditions. New Phytologist 221.

Public Engagement

I am a part of the Queen Mary Futures Programme and tutor for Universify Education