Rate My Professor Hilary Ashe

Hilary Ashe is Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Function within the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Manchester's Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. She obtained her BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Aberdeen (1987-1991) and DPhil from the University of Oxford (1992-1996) under the supervision of Professor N J Proudfoot. Her postdoctoral training included positions at the University of Oxford (1996-1997) in Professor Proudfoot's laboratory and at the University of California, Berkeley (1997-2000) with Professor M Levine. Ashe held a Lectureship at the Centre for Developmental Genetics, University of Sheffield (2000-2001). She established her research group at the University of Manchester in 2002 as a Lister Institute Research Fellow (2002-2007), advancing to Lecturer (2007-2009), Senior Lecturer (2009-2013), and Professor since 2013. She serves as Chair of the Wellcome Trust Cell Biology, Development and Physiology Discovery Advisory Group.

The Ashe laboratory investigates the regulation of BMP signalling and its role in development using Drosophila as a model. Research encompasses dynamic gene expression responses to BMP gradients, extracellular modulation by factors such as collagen IV, integrins, Tolloid proteases, and Twisted gastrulation, and post-transcriptional control of germline stem cell fate via miRNAs and repressors like Brat. Key publications include 'Ovarian germline stem cell dedifferentiation is cytoneme dependent' (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025), 'An avidity-driven mechanism of extracellular BMP regulation by Twisted gastrulation' (Development, 2026), 'Dynamics of hunchback translation in real time and at single mRNA resolution in the Drosophila embryo' (Development, 2021), 'Modulation of the Promoter Activation Rate Dictates the Transcriptional Response to Graded BMP Signaling Levels' (Developmental Cell, 2020), 'Extensive polymerase pausing during Drosophila axis patterning enables high-level and pliable transcription' (Genes & Development, 2013), 'Type IV Collagens regulate BMP signalling in Drosophila' (Nature, 2008), and 'Robustness of the BMP morphogen gradient in Drosophila embryonic patterning' (Science, 2002). Her contributions, supported by Wellcome Trust Discovery Awards (e.g., 2016, 2023) and BBSRC grants, advance understanding of signalling networks relevant to human developmental disorders and align with Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being.