Gavin Chapman

Gavin Chapman is a developmental biologist whose research is focused on understanding the genetic causes of birth defects. He obtained his PhD from Adelaide University under Professor Peter Rathjen, working on self-renewal of mouse embryonic stem cells. After graduating, Gavin was awarded a CJ Martin Fellowship to work with Professor Urban Lendahl at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, where he developed an interest in signal transduction and how it controls various aspects of mammalian embryogenesis.

Gavin returned to Australia in 2004 to work with Professor Sally Dunwoodie at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, where he studied how Notch signalling controls somitogenesis, the process by which precursors of the vertebrae are laid down during development. In 2006, Gavin was awarded a Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Development Fellowship to investigate the early events of Notch signal transduction.

More recently, Gavin has applied human genomics to identify genes, that when mutated cause birth defects such as congenital heart disease. Gavin uses cell culture, mouse and yeast genetics to confirm that these mutated genes exhibit altered function.