Rate My Professor Margot Day

Associate Professor Margot Day holds a position in the Discipline of Physiology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She earned her BSc (Hons) and PhD from the University of Sydney. After completing her doctorate, Day conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge with Professors Martin Johnson and Michael Berridge, funded by an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship. Her post-doctoral work focused on the mechanisms regulating fertilisation-induced oscillations in intracellular calcium. Returning to Australia, she established the Laboratory of Developmental Physiology in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney, where she has been employed since 2000 and was promoted to Associate Professor.

Day's research investigates the physiological processes governing oocyte fertilisation and cell proliferation in preimplantation embryos, particularly the effects of the in vitro culture environment on gene expression, epigenetics, metabolism, and proliferation during early development, which may impact later life outcomes. Her lab seeks to enhance assisted reproductive technologies by elucidating these influences, given that approximately 3% of babies born in Australia result from such procedures. Key areas include the roles of amino acids like L-proline, its analogues, glutamine, and isoleucine in improving embryo development, protecting against oxidative stress, driving signalling pathway crosstalk, and facilitating stage-specific uptake via transporters such as Slc6a19/BAT1. Studies also cover redox regulation, insulin-like growth factor binding proteins, and mTORC1/2 signalling. Techniques utilized encompass in vitro fertilisation, isolation and culture of mouse preimplantation embryos, gene expression analysis, cell signalling, electrophysiology, flow cytometric lipid analysis, and live cell imaging. Notable publications include "Proline and Proline Analogues Improve Development of Mouse Preimplantation Embryos by Protecting Them against Oxidative Stress" (2023), "Stage-Specific L-Proline Uptake by Amino Acid Transporter Slc6a19/BAT1 Is Required for Optimal Preimplantation Embryo Development in Mice" (2022), "Signalling pathway crosstalk stimulated by L-proline drives mouse embryonic stem cells to primitive-ectoderm-like cells" (2023), "Glutamine, proline, and isoleucine support maturation and fertilisation of bovine oocytes" (2023), and "Redox Regulation and Oxidative Stress in Mammalian Oocytes and Embryos Developed In Vivo and In Vitro" (2021).