Responsibilities

Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Science

Teaching

Module Leader
Principles of Genetics
Medical Genetics
DNA and Gene Manipulation

Other Modules
Foundations of Cell Biology
Foundation Studies
Introduction to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Laboratory Techniques for the Biomedical Sciences
MSc Biomedical Sciences
Undergraduate Research Project

Research Interests

• Pharmacological characterisation of the MC1R in the melanistic and wild-type grey squirrel.
• The genetic basis of melanism in the grey, fox, red and palm squirrels. (The Black Squirrel Project website)
• Pleiotropy of the MC1R gene.
• Genetic diversity of the grey squirrel as an invasive species in Great Britain.

Media Work

Television
BBC 1 The One Show
BBC 1 Inside Out
BBC 2 Countryfile
BBC 2 Country Tracks
BBC 1 Breakfast
BBC 1 Look East
ITV Anglia News
Channel 4 Foxes Live: Wild in the City
Newsround

Radio
BBC 4 Material World
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, West Midlands, 3 Counties (Beds, Bucks, Herts)
BBC Radio Five Live

Black Squirrels
Black Fox
Material World podcast

Publications

McRobie, H. Fanutti, C., Symmons, M. Coussons, P., 2012. A Model of the Deletion Mutant of Melanocortin 1 Receptor (MC1RD24) Derived from a Melanic Form of the Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) Biochemical Society, Prato, Italy

McRobie, H., 2012. Black Squirrels: Genetics and Distribution. Quarterly Journal of Forestry, 106 (2), pp. 137-141

McRobie, H., Thomas, A., Kelly, J., 2009. The genetic basis of melanism in the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Journal of Heredity,100(6), pp.709-714.