Christopher THOMAS

Dr. Christopher Thomas is a group leader at the Developmental Biology Institute of Marseille (IBDM), France. He completed his PhD in the group of Dr. Suzanne Madgwick at the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, University of Newcastle, UK. His PhD focused on the regulation of cyclin B1, securin, and separase during oocyte meiosis, highlighting how the oocyte repurposes key cell cycle pathways to adapt for this highly specialised cell division. In 2018, Dr. Thomas moved to the group of Dr. Melina Schuh at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen, Germany. During his postdoc, he moved away from oocytes and set out with the challenge of live-imaging mammalian ovulation. With colleagues, he developed a system to reconstitute ovulation in single isolated mouse ovarian follicles using a long-term culture system adapted for use with advanced quantitative live imaging. This approach enabled mammalian ovulation to be visualised at the cellular level for the first time. In September 2024, Dr. Thomas started his independent research group at the IBDM, Marseille. His research uses live imaging and follicle culture to investigate how many growing follicles compete for dominance and the ability to ovulate during each ovarian cycle.