Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences

Profile

Susanne Dietrich graduated in 1989 with a first class Diplom (MSc equivalent) in Biology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.  For her PhD, she joined Peter Gruss, most famous for his work on transcriptional enhancers and mouse Hox and Pax genes, at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany.  Using mouse genetics, she investigated the induction and patterning of the sclerotome and its relevance for healthy vertebral column development.  In 1994, she was awarded a “summa cum laude”, the highest honour, for her PhD.

In 1994, Susanne joined Andrew Lumsden’s laboratory at the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospitals, now Kings College London, to learn the microsurgical and molecular manipulation of the chicken embryo.  Her work focused on the induction and patterning of skeletal muscle, and she showed how tissues communicate to establish correctly patterned body muscles.  Moreover, she showed that the formation of limb, diaphragm and tongue muscles relies on a distinct pathway, and she discovered a novel regulator for this process. 

In 1998, after a brief second post doc with Cheryll Tickle at University College, London, Susanne was offered a post as Lecturer at the Dental Institute of Kings College, London.  Here, she established her independent research and showed that a further, distinct molecular programme accounts for the formation of muscles in the head.  In 2003, Susanne was promoted to Reader in recognition for her work.

In 2011, Susanne took up a new post with the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Portsmouth.  In her research, she is focusing on the molecular networks that control the simultaneous production of differentiating muscle cells and muscle stem cells.  She has established novel collaborations to accompany the work on the mouse and chicken model with work on zebrafish and Xenopus, aimed at identifying the basic, vertebrate specific regulatory mechanisms for muscle and muscle stem cell formation.  Moreover, she has established collaborations to join “wet” laboratory work with “dry” bioinformatics.  Furthermore, Susanne has established collaborations to investigate the assembly of functional organs, including the innervation of muscle and the contribution of multi-potent precursors to either head skeletal muscle or heart.  All of these collaborations have led to or are being prepared for publications.

Susanne’s findings made a significant contribution to the field of developmental biology and are well represented in text books such as the renowned Gilbert’s “Developmental Biology”; she is also regularly invited for seminars.  In 1998, Susanne established the King’s College seminar series "Development and Evolution”.  In 2008, also at King’s, she founded a novel national conference for young researchers in the area of muscle developmental, cell and molecular biology.  Moreover, she was peer-selected to organise the 2009 Keystone muscle meeting “Making muscle in the embryo and the adult” in New York.  Susanne is on the editorial board of the leading journals in her field, “Development” and “Developmental Biology”, and she regularly is invited by journals and research councils to peer-review publications and grant applications.

In addition to her research, Dr. Dietrich, is actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.  She has successfully coached 6 PhD and 4 visiting PhD students and 5 postdocs, and the majority of them are now pursuing independent careers in research.  At King’s, Dr. Dietrich designed and headed the postgraduate degree course “Craniofacial Biology, Development and Evolution” and the intercalated BSc Course “Craniofacial Sciences”.  At UoP, she has established a novel, heavily oversubscribed, undergraduate unit on Developmental Biology, and she also heads the “Scientific Project” unit in the final year of the Biomedical Sciences BSc Course.  In 2009, Susanne was invited to teach at the Brazilian Workshop on Developmental Biology and Embryology, held at Unicamp, Campinas SP.  Susanne regularly organises outreach activities with schools in her home borough of Kingston upon Thames, where she also carries out voluntary work with Kingston Athletic Club & Polytechnic Harriers, coaching youngsters in track and field athletics and managing the young athletes’ cross country team. She was awarded the Club’s Coaches Award in 2010.

Further qualifications: Susanne has successfully completed the MRC Course for Biological Safety Officers (2003, with merit) and in 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively, the Modules 1-4 (mammals), Modules 1-3 (fish), Modules 2,3 (hen’s eggs) for work under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and  a member of the Anatomical Society and of the British Society for Developmental Biology (BSDB).

Research Interests

Tissue interactions and molecular networks that control

• how a multi-potent mesodermal precursor cell commits to a particular cell fate
• when a cell may differentiate
• how the balance between cell differentiation and maintenance of a precursor/stem cell pool is achieved
• how this cell recognises and reaches its target sites
• how cells from different sources and tissues assemble into a functional organ

For more information, please view lab page.