Richard Tyser

My work is focused on understanding how the heart forms and starts to function during embryonic development. To study this I use a number of different techniques including live time-lapse imaging and single-cell transcriptomics.

I was awarded my BSc degree in Biomedical Science with Industrial Experience from the University of Manchester. During my degree I undertook a placement year at the University of Nevada, Reno (USA) investigating cAMP signalling in cardiomyocytes with Professor Robert Harvey as well as a summer placement studying cardiomyocyte calcium handling with Professor David Eisner.

I then moved to London and completed a British Heart Foundation funded PhD in Cardiovascular Medicine at University College London working with Professor Paul Riley. My PhD studies looked at functional calcium handling during early heart formation and its role in subsequent heart development. 

On completion of my PhD, I started postdoctoral studies with Professor Shankar Srinivas at the University of Oxford, working as part of a Wellcome Trust funded consortium to investigate early mammalian lineage decisions. During this time my work focused on using single cell sequencing and imaging to characterise the different cell types that are present in the forming heart.

In 2018, I was awarded a British Heart Foundation Immediate Basic Research Fellowship to study how the first heartbeat is initiated. Overall my hope is that this research will improve our understanding of congenital heart defects and will suggest new strategies to help treat heart disease and arrhythmias.