Martin Higgs

Dr Martin R. Higgs

Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
Associate Professor for Genomics and Rare Disease
Deputy Director, Centre for Rare Disease Studies
Department EDI Lead

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 8480
Email: m.r.higgs@bham.ac.uk

Address: Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Martin Higgs is a group leader in the Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences. He is currently Associate Professor for Genomics and Rare Disease, and leads a research group working on the cellular response to genotoxic stress. He is also Deputy Director for the Centre for Rare Disease Studies (CRDS) Birmingham.

Martin’s area of expertise is the study of a single post-translational modification, known as Lysine methylation, and how this regulates the cellular response to DNA damage. In addition, part of his work focuses on the role of lysine methylation in ensuring human development and preventing rare human diseases. He has particular interests in studying neurodevelopmental disorders caused by mutations in the lysine methylation apparatus.

He also maintains a long-standing interest in the impact of chronic viral infection on lysine methylation and DNA repair, and on the consequences during tumourigenesis.

He has published papers in top journals, such as Molecular Cell, Oncogene, Cancer Research and Nature Genetics, and has been invited to speak at both national and international conferences.

Qualifications

PG Certificate in HE, 2020
PhD in Virology, University of Glasgow, 2008
BSc in Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Stirling, 2004

Biography

Martin graduated with a BSc from the University of Stirling in 2003. He then worked in Leeds with Professor Mark Harris on characterising the hepatitis C virus (HCV) protein p7, before moving to the (former) MRC Virology Unit in Glasgow to study for his PhD with Dr Nigel Stow.

He then undertook post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Professor Jean-Michel Pawlotsky in Paris, France, on the impact of HCV on the cellular response to DNA damage and cellular signalling.

In 2012, he moved to the University 麻豆精选 to join the group of Professor Grant Stewart, where he studied novel actors in the cellular response to replication stress.

In 2016, he was awarded an MRC Career Development Fellowship and was appointed Birmingham Fellow in Genomics and Rare Disease and established his research group in 2017. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021.

Teaching

Teaching management

Module co-lead: MRes Cancer Sciences/MSc Clinical Oncology: Cellular and Molecular Basis of Cancer
Module co-lead: MSc Clinical Oncology: Radiation Biology
Module deputy lead: MBChB: Cancer - Causes to Cures (Year 2)

Teaching delivery

BSc Biomedical Science: Stem Cells and Genetic Inheritance (Year 2)
BSc Biomedical Science: Clinical and Stratified Medicine (Year 2)
BSc Biomedical Science: Cancer Pathogenesis and Treatment (Year 3)
BSc Biomedical Science DNA Damage Response (Year 3)
MBChB Cancer: Causes to Cures (Year 2)
MRes Cancer Sciences/MSc Clinical Oncology: Cellular and Molecular Basis of Cancer
MSc Clinical Oncology: Radiation Biology

Postgraduate supervision

Martin’s interests are in the cellular response to DNA damage, and examining the role of lysine methylation in this process. He is also interested in examining the impact of mutations in lysine methylation pathways on human health.

Martin is currently supervising doctoral and master’s students in studying how lysine methylation regulates cancer therapeutic efficacy and DNA repair. Previous students have gone on to further academic study, careers in life sciences, or PhDs.

He is always interested in supervising keen and motivated individuals: if you are seeking a PhD position in the fields of DNA repair and/or human genetics, and have an excellent and competitive CV, then please contact him directly.

Research

Martin’s current research focuses around identifying how cells respond to and resolve DNA damage, particularly that arising during DNA replication.

He is particularly interested in elucidating how protein Lysine methylation contributes to safeguarding genome stability, and in identifying novel factors involved in this response. He is also interested in elucidating how deficiencies in these pathways contribute to human disease.

He also maintains a long-standing interest in the impact of chronic viral infection on this process, and on the consequences of this on the DNA damage response during carcinogenesis.

For more details, please visit his lab page.

Current Projects

Assessing the impact of histone methylation on DNA repair and anti-cancer therapies
Investigating the role of lysine methyltransferases in maintaining genome stability
Uncovering new roles for non-histone methylation in DNA repair and replication
Profiling mutations in the lysine methylation apparatus and the impact on genomic stability
Investigating how genome instability contributes to rare diseases caused by mutations in lysine methyltransferases

Other activities

Reviewer for grant funding bodies and journals, including Nature Communications, Oncogene, Nucleic Acids Research, MRC, BBSRC and the NIH.
Host for In2STEM (formerly In2Science) and active STEM ambassador.
Lead for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity within the Institute.

Publications

Highlight publications:

Bayley, R, Sweatman, E & Higgs, M 2023, '', Cancer drug resistance (Alhambra, Calif.), vol. 6, pp. 35-44.

Bayley, R, Borel, V, Moss, R, Sweatman, E, Ruis, P, Ormrod, A, Goula, A, Mottram, R, Stanage, T, Hewitt, G, Saponaro, M, Stewart, G, Boulton, S & Higgs, M 2022, '', Molecular Cell, vol. 82, no. 10, pp. 1924-1939.e10.

Kummerling, J, Stremmelaar, DE, Raun, N, Reijnders, MRF, Willemsen, MH, Ruiterkamp-Versteeg, M, Schepens, M, Man, CCO, Gilissen, C, Cho, MT, McWalter, K, Sinnema, M, Wheless, JW, Simon, MEH, Genetti, CA, Casey, AM, Terhal, PA, van der Smagt, JJ, van Gassen, KLI, Joset, P, Bahr, A, Steindl, K, Rauch, A, Keller, E, Raas-Rothschild, A, Koolen, DA, Agrawal, PB, Hoffman, TL, Powell-Hamilton, NN, Thiffault, I, Engleman, K, Zhou, D, Bodamer, O, Hoefele, J, Riedhammer, KM, Schwaibold, EMC, Tasic, V, Schubert, D, Top, D, Pfundt, R, Higgs, M, Kramer, JM & Kleefstra, T 2020, '', Molecular Psychiatry.

Higgs, M, Sato, K, Reynolds, J, Begum, S, Bayley, R, Goula, A, Vernet, A, Paquin, K, Skalnik, D, Kobayashi, W, Takata, M, Howlett, N, Kurumizaka, H, Kimura, H & Stewart, G 2018, '', Molecular Cell, vol. 71, no. 1, pp. 25-41.e6.

The COMPLEXO Network 2020, '', Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 130, no. 8, pp. 4069-4080.

Begum, S, Goula, A, Bayley, R & Higgs, M 2018, '', Molecular and Cellular Oncology, vol. 5, no. 6, e1511209.

Recent publications

Article

Snijders Blok, L, Verseput, J, Rots, D, Venselaar, H, Innes, AM, Stumpel, C, Õunap, K, Reinson, K, Seaby, EG, McKee, S, Burton, B, Kim, K, van Hagen, JM, Waisfisz, Q, Joset, P, Steindl, K, Rauch, A, Li, D, Zackai, EH, Sheppard, SE, Keena, B, Hakonarson, H, Roos, A, Kohlschmidt, N, Cereda, A, Iascone, M, Rebessi, E, Kernohan, KD, Campeau, PM, Millan, F, Taylor, JA, Lochmüller, H, Higgs, MR, Goula, A, Bernhard, B, Velasco, DJ, Schmanski, AA, Stark, Z, Gallacher, L, Pais, L, Marcogliese, PC, Yamamoto, S, Raun, N, Jakub, TE, Kramer, JM, den Hoed, J, Fisher, SE, Brunner, HG & Kleefstra, T 2023, '', HGG advances, vol. 4, no. 1, 100157.

Sharma, AB, Ramlee, MK, Kosmin, J, Higgs, MR, Wolstenholme, A, Ronson, GE, Jones, D, Ebner, D, Shamkhi, N, Sims, D, Wijnhoven, PWG, Forment, J, Gibbs-Seymour, I & Lakin, ND 2023, '', Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 5003.

Fletcher, SC, Hall, C, Kennedy, TJ, Pajusalu, S, Wojcik, MH, Boora, U, Li, C, Oja, KT, Hendrix, E, Westrip, CA, Andrijes, R, Piasecka, SK, Singh, M, El-Asrag, ME, Ptasinska, A, Tillmann, V, Higgs, MR, Carere, DA, Beggs, AD, Pappas, J, Rabin, R, Smerdon, SJ, Stewart, GS, Õunap, K & Coleman, ML 2023, '', Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 133, no. 7, e152784.

Mahony, CB, Copper, L, Vrljicak, P, Noyvert, B, Constantinidou, C, Browne, S, Pan, Y, Palles, C, Ott, S, Higgs, MR & Monteiro, R 2023, '', Cell Reports, vol. 42, no. 6, 112571.

Bayley, R, Sweatman, E & Higgs, M 2023, '', Cancer drug resistance (Alhambra, Calif.), vol. 6, pp. 35-44.

Grange, LJ, Reynolds, JJ, Ullah, F, Isidor, B, Shearer, RF, Latypova, X, Baxley, RM, Oliver, AW, Ganesh, A, Cooke, SL, Jhujh, SS, McNee, GS, Hollingworth, R, Higgs, MR, Natsume, T, Khan, T, Martos-Moreno, GÁ, Chupp, S, Mathew, CG, Parry, D, Simpson, MA, Nahavandi, N, Yüksel, Z, Drasdo, M, Kron, A, Vogt, P, Jonasson, A, Seth, SA, Gonzaga-Jauregui, C, Brigatti, KW, Stegmann, APA, Kanemaki, M, Josifova, D, Uchiyama, Y, Oh, Y, Morimoto, A, Osaka, H, Ammous, Z, Argente, J, Matsumoto, N, Stumpel, CTRM, Taylor, AMR, Jackson, AP, Bielinsky, A-K, Mailand, N, Le Caignec, C, Davis, EE & Stewart, GS 2022, '', Nature Communications, vol. 13, no. 1, 6664.

Wang, J, Rojas, P, Mao, J, Muste Sadurni, M, Garnier, O, Xiao, S, Higgs, M, Garcia, P & Saponaro, M 2021, '', Cell Reports, vol. 34, no. 7, 108759.

Wing, P, Davenne, T, Wettengel, J, Lai, AG, Zhuang, X, Chakraborty, A, d'Arienzo, V, Kramer, C, Ko, C, Harris, J, Schreiner, S, Higgs, M, Roessler, S, Parish, J, Protzer, U, Balfe, P, Rehwinkel, J & McKeating, JA 2019, '', Life Science Alliance, vol. 2, no. 2.

Burrage, L, Reynolds, J, Baratang, N, Phillips, J, Wegner, J, McFarquhar, A, Higgs, M, Christiansen, A, Lanza, D, Seavitt, J, Jain, M, Li, X, Parry, D, Raman, V, Chitayat, D, Chinn, I, Bertuch, A, Karaviti, L, Schlesinger, A, Earl, D, Bamshad, M, Savarirayan, R, Doddapaneni, H, Muzny, D, Jhangiani, S, Eng, C, Gibbs, R, Bi, W, Emrick, L, Rosenfeld, J, Postlethwait, J, Westerfield, M, Dickinson, M, Beaudet, A, Ranza, E, Huber, C, Cormier-Daire, V, Shen, W, Mao, R, Heaney, J, Orange, J, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Bertola, D, Yamamoto, G, Baratela, W, Butler, M, Ali, A, Adeli, M, Cohn, D, Krakow, D, Jackson, A, Lees, M, Offiah, A, Carlston, C, Carey, J, Stewart, G, Bacino, C, Campeau, P & Lee, B 2019, '', American Journal of Human Genetics, vol. 104, no. 3, pp. 422-438.

Chang, HR, Cho, SY, Lee, JH, Lee, E, Soo, J, Lee, HR, Cavalcanti, DP, Mäkitie, O, Valta, H, Girisha, KM, Lee, C, Neethukrishna, K, Bhavani, GS, Shukla, A, Nampoothiri, S, Phadke, SR, Park, MJ, Ikegawa, S, Wang, Z, Higgs, M, Stewart, G, Jung, E, Lee, M-S, Park, JH, Lee, EA, Kim, H, Myung, K, Jeon, W, Lee, K, Kim, D, Kim, O-H, Choi, M, Lee, H-W, Kim, Y & Cho, T-J 2019, '', American Journal of Human Genetics, vol. 104, no. 3, pp. 439-453.

Bayley, R, Blakemore, D, Cancian, L, Dumon, S, Volpe, G, Ward, C, Al Maghrabi, R, Gujar, J, Reeve, N, Raghavan, M, Higgs, M, Stewart, G, Petermann, E & Garcia, P 2018, '', Cancer Research, vol. 78, no. 20, pp. 5767-5779. ,

Ronson, G, Piberger, AL, Higgs, M, Olsen, A, Stewart, G, McHugh, P, Petermann, E & Lakin, N 2018, '', Nature Communications, vol. 9, no. 1, 746.

Comment/debate

Sharma, AB, Ramlee, MK, Kosmin, J, Higgs, MR, Wolstenholme, A, Ronson, GE, Jones, D, Ebner, D, Shamkhi, N, Sims, D, Wijnhoven, PWG, Forment, JV, Gibbs-Seymour, I & Lakin, ND 2023, '', Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 7784.

Preprint

Mahony, CB, Noyvert, B, Vrljicak, P, Ott, S, Higgs, M & Monteiro, R 2021 '' bioRxiv.