Dr Scott Berry

Contact Details

Phone: +61-2-9385 0790
Email: scott.berry@unsw.edu.au

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Scott has a background in both Theoretical Physics and Molecular Biology and currently leads a research group in Single Molecule Science at the University of New South Wales. Scott studied his PhD at the John Innes Centre with Caroline Dean and Martin Howard, combining theoretical and experimental biology approaches to understand mechanisms of epigenetic memory in Arabidopsis thaliana. He then moved to Switzerland as a HFSP postdoctoral fellow, working with Lucas Pelkmans at the University of Zurich. There, he shifted model systems from plants to mammalian cells, and became immersed in the wonderful world of modern single-cell biology. Scott is interested in using quantitative techniques particularly microscopy and mathematical modelling to pursue a deeper understanding of how individual cells regulate the expression of the genome

University role:

Group Leader

Awards:

2019 Early-career researcher award (Lorne genome conference, Australia)
2017-2021 HFSP Long Term Fellowship (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
2017-2019 EMBO Long Term Fellowship (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
2016 John Innes Foundation prize for excellence in scientific research – annual Ph.D. thesis prize (Norwich, U.K.)
2014 EMBO Short Term Fellowship (FMI, Basel, Switzerland)
2011-2015 John Innes Foundation Rotation PhD Scholarship
2010 Maslen Physics Prize (University of Western Australia)
2010 John and Patricia Farrant Scholarship
2007 Silver Bragg Medal (Australian Institute of Physics)
2007 R.K. Morton Scholarship (University of Adelaide – Biochemistry)
2007 Angus Hurst Prize (University of Adelaide – Physics)

Keywords:

gene regulation

systems biology

mrna

cell size

epigenetics

chromatin

histone modification

Research

Research activities:

Quantitative regulation of gene expression in single cells

We are interested in the mechanisms used by cells to regulate gene-specific and global RNA abundance – ranging from epigenetic memory and cellular decision-making to global RNA metabolism in the context of cellular physiology. We seek to generate a quantitative understanding of these processes.

Our research methodology is a combination of ‘top-down’ (data-driven) and ‘bottom-up’ (hypothesis-driven) approaches. We make extensive use of high-throughput microscopy and automated image analysis, which enables detailed measurement of quantitative cellular phenotypes (for example, the abundance and localisations of specific proteins or RNAs) across large cell populations. Resulting datasets are then analysed using a variety of methods from data science. We complement these image-based approaches with functional genomics experiments, based on next-generation sequencing – providing exquisite genomic resolution, and use perturbation experiments including genome and epigenome-editing to test specific hypotheses.

Socio-economic Objective (SEO) tags:

Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences

Teaching & Supervision

I am available to supervise:

Yes

Areas of supervision:

Gene regulation, RNA biology, epigenetics, mathematical modelling, high-content microscopy, image-based screening

Currently supervising:

Dr Alexander Gillis (Postdoctoral fellow)

Media

Twitter Account:

https://twitter.com/scottbscience

Publications related to this Person

Journal articles

Preprints

Spitzer H; Berry S; Donoghoe M; Pelkmans L; Theis F, 2022, Learning consistent subcellular landmarks to quantify changes in multiplexed protein maps, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.07.490900

Berry S; Müller M; Pelkmans L, 2021, Nuclear RNA concentration coordinates RNA production with cell size in human cells, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.17.444432