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Contact Details

Phone
64 3 470 4695
Email
meganj.wilson@otago.ac.nz

University Links

Position
Associate Professor
Department
Department of Anatomy
Qualifications
BSc(Hons) PhD(Otago)
Research summary
Developmental biology and genetics
Teaching
  • Developmental biology
  • Genetics and gene regulation
  • HUBS 192, ANAT 243, ANAT 334, ANAT 456, GENE 315, GENE 400, ELM 3

Research

Understanding idiopathic disease using mouse models

We are using the mouse model as a way to understand the biology behind two disorders who etiology is poorly understood.

Sex-dimorphic brain development

This research programme is aimed at understanding how the sex of an individual effects differentiation of the brain, and how this is associated with behavior or risk of neurological damage and disease. Early development of the genital ridge and disorders of sex development.

Whole Body Regeneration model: Botrylloides leachi

Animals capable of some sort of regeneration are distributed widely throughout most phyla. The most dramatic example of such the regenerative process is whole body regeneration (WBR), the process of regenerating an entire adult organism from only a small number of cells or amount of tissue. From an evolutionary perspective, as animal body and tissue complexity increases, regenerative (and particularly WBR) ability decreases concomitantly.

An exception to this is Botrylloides leachi, an invertebrate colonial sea squirt that can undergo WBR. As a chordate (processing a notochord), B. leachi is a close phylogenetic relative of vertebrates and provides an excellent model for vertebrate regeneration.

Publications

Moody, E. C., Wade, E. M., Mizumoto, S., McCallum-Loudeac, J., & Wilson, M. J. (2026). Deletion of a Pax1 sex-associated genomic region associated with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis leads to disc degeneration, instability, and vertebral rotation in mice. JOR Spine, 9, e70177. doi: 10.1002/jsp2.70177 Journal - Research Article

Gamble, D. A., Temiz, B., & Wilson, M. J. (2026, February). Decoding regeneration: Uncovering the genetic regulation driving whole-body regeneration in Botrylloides diegensis. Poster session presented at the Genetics Otago (GO) Annual Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Poster Presentation (not in published proceedings)

Moody, E. C., Wade, E. M., Mizumoto, S., McCallum-Loudeac, J., & Wilson, M. J. (2025, December). Decision of a sex-associated genomic region linked to adolescent idiopathic scoliosis leads to disc degeneration, instability, and vertebral rotation. Verbal presentation at the Australian and New Zealand Association of Clinical Anatomists (ANZACA) Virtual Conference: Anatomy in Action, [online]. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Temiz, B., Meier, M., & Wilson, M. J. (2025). Single-cell transcriptomic profiling of the whole colony of Botrylloides diegensis: Insights into tissue specialization and blastogenesis. Development, 152, dev204265. doi: 10.1242/dev.204265 Journal - Research Article

Szakats, S., Cannon, R., & Wilson, M. J. (2025). Sex-biased microRNA expression in the developing mouse brain: Multiple mechanisms driving its origin. Gene, 965, 149675. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2025.149675 Journal - Research Article

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