
Dr Chrissy Hammond
MBiochem(Oxon.), PhD(Lond.)
Expertise
We use zebrafish to unpick how skeletal diseases in people develop and progress
Current positions
Associate Professor in Developmental Genetics
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience
Contact
Media contact
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Research interests
Our group's research focuses on the regulation of cartilage and bone homeostasis in development and in disease states such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and Stickler syndrome as well as during repair and regeneration. We are particularly interested in the interplay between genes and environmental cues such as mechanical loading, diet, and metabolism. We use the zebrafish as a model because it combines excellent genetics with beautiful imaging possibilities, which allow us to study the development of the skeletal system dynamically in vivo.
We have a number of projects running in collaboration with clinicians, engineers and epidemiologists.
Additionally, with Emma Vincent, I colead an Elizabeth Blackwell Institute research strand called 'Mechanisms to Populations' which aims to help overcome the barriers to interdisciplinary work in epidmiology and functional biological studies. For mroe information on the strand please see:
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/blackwell/health-research/research-strands/mechanisms-to-populations/
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Form, function and development of the amniote skull: a case study using lepidosaurs
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/04/2022 to 31/03/2025
BBSRC ALERT 21 LCM-MM: Bringing Laser Capture Microscopy Technology to the University of Bristol
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/03/2022 to 28/02/2023
8051 sLOLA - BB/T001984/1 - Via Manchester
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/01/2020 to 31/12/2024
8020 STFC UK Space Agency Call for Microgravity Experiments - K Robson Brown (School of Arts)
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/10/2018 to 31/03/2019
Effect of treatment with Vitamin D and synthetic analogues in preventing intestine inflammatory disease and osteoarthritis in zebrafish larvae
Principal Investigator
Role
Principal Investigator
Description
Gut inflammation and disease, Osteoarthritis, Vitamin DManaging organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
23/06/2018 to 31/07/2018
Thesis supervisions
Investigating the role of autophagy in musculoskeletal development and homeostasis using zebrafish
Supervisors
Investigating pain and whether it underlies altered behaviour in osteoarthritis zebrafish mutants
Supervisors
Modelling the biological mechanisms underpinning healthy and pathological bone repair in zebrafish (Danio rerio)
Supervisors
Modelling Stickler Syndrome in Zebrafish
Supervisors
Observing, analysing, modelling, and even changing the behaviour of zebrafish
Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
05/05/2022Growth orientations, rather than heterogeneous growth rates, dominate jaw joint morphogenesis in the larval zebrafish
Journal of Anatomy
Regenerating zebrafish scales express a subset of evolutionary conserved genes involved in human skeletal disease
BMC Biology
Dominating Lengthscales of Zebrafish Collective Behaviour
3D assessment of intervertebral disc degeneration in zebrafish identifies changes to bone density that prime disc disease
Bone Research