Dr Gemma Bourne

Gemma graduated in Pathology, specialising in immunology, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 2004.   In the summer of 2003, Gemma worked in the laboratory on chemokine signalling under the supervision of Dr. Jill Reckless.  Having enjoyed that time so much, Gemma went on to complete a PhD in the laboratory in 2008, investigating the mechanisms that control TGF-beta activation; with a focus on the proteolytic processing event that separates the propeptide (termed the latency associated peptide, LAP) from the mature protein. Since then, Gemma has continued to work in this field and developed a particular interest in what influences the activity of the proprotein convertases, such as furin, that are responsible for proTGF-beta processing.