Mike Bate facts for kids
Christopher Michael Bate, often called Mike Bate, is a very important scientist. He is an Emeritus Professor of developmental biology at the Department of Zoology at King's College, Cambridge. This means he is a retired professor who still keeps his title and connection to the university. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society, which is a big honor for scientists in the UK.
Mike Bate was born on December 21, 1943. His father, John Gordon Bate, was a doctor for the R.A.F. (Royal Air Force). His great-uncle, William Temple, was even the Archbishop of Canterbury for a few years.
Contents
Understanding How Living Things Grow
Mike Bate is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, a group for top scientists studying life at a tiny level. His main research is about how living things develop, especially how their bodies are built to move. He wants to understand how muscles and the nerves that control them are put together when an embryo (a baby animal or human before it's born) is forming.
Building Muscles and Nerves
His work looks at two main things:
- How muscles are made, how they get their special jobs, and how they are arranged in the body.
- How motor circuits (groups of nerves that send signals to muscles) are created and start working.
Studying the Fruit Fly
To study these complex processes, Mike Bate worked with a tiny insect called the Drosophila melanogaster, also known as the fruit fly. These flies are great for scientific research because they grow quickly and scientists can easily study their genes.
He used a mix of different science tools:
- Genetics: Studying how genes control development.
- Molecular techniques: Looking at the tiny molecules inside cells.
- Cellular techniques: Studying how individual cells behave and interact.
He used these methods to understand how muscles and nerves connect, which is called neuromuscular development. Mike Bate also studied how new muscle cells (called myoblasts) are added and join together. He also looked at how young nerve cells start to send electrical signals and work properly.
External Links
- Website at the Department of Zoology
- "Michael Bate Interview", Alan Macfarlane, 2 July 2008
