Our lab is interested in how genetic material is packaged in eukaryotes and the implications this has for biological processes. Within each cell of our body, we have nearly four metres of DNA distributed over 46 chromosomes which is sequestered in a nucleus of only 1000 m3.
Chromatin must, therefore, fulfil two conflicting roles: structure DNA so that genomic instability is minimised, but at the same time remain accessible to factors involved in transcription, replication and repair. In studying these contrary roles, our investigations span two length scales, namely the assembly of individual nucleosomes to form the 10 nm fibre and the mechanics of higher-order chromatin domains. To do this we utilise both in vitro biochemical approaches and advanced live-cell imaging.
Alonso & Andrew write a preview on recent findings from the Dickmanns lab showing how AF3 aids in resolving ambiguities current structures giving new insights into the nuclear import of histones
Alonso J. Pardal, Andrew J. Bowman.
AlphaFold3 turns the H1 dual importin system upside-down
doi: 10.1016/j.str.2026.02.005 [Link]
Hampering PARPi resistance
Bowman lab contributes to the remarkable finding from the Timinszky Lab that loss of PolE subunits leads to PARP inhibitor sesnsitivity. Well done Hasan, it was a pleasure hosting you on your EMBO-STF!
Alonso J. Pardal, Andrew J. Bowman.
The loss of DNA polymerase epsilon accessory subunits POLE3–POLE4 leads to BRCA1-independent PARP inhibitor sensitivity
doi: 10.1093/nar/gkae439 [Link]
A histone matchmaker
Alonso publishes his work defining a new import pathway specific for monomeric histones.
Alonso J. Pardal, Andrew J. Bowman.
A specific role for importin-5 and NASP in the import and nuclear hand-off of monomeric H3
doi.org/10.7554/eLife.81755 [Link]
Cradle to grave
Alonso and Fil summarise the current literature on histone chaperoning from "ribosome to nucleosome".
Pardal A.J., Fernandes-Duarte F., Bowman A.J. (2019) The histone chaperoning pathway: from ribosome to nucleosome
Essays Biochem. 63(1):29-43. Review. doi:org/10.1042/EBC20180055 [Link]
Pulsing histones
Mike and Andrew develop a real-time pulse chase strategy called 'RAPID-release' to probe the histone chaperoning pathway & propose a pathway for the import of monomeric histones.
Apta-Smith M.J., Hernandez-Fernaud J.R., Bowman A.J. (2018) Evidence for the nuclear import of histones H3.1 and H4 as monomers.
EMBO J. doi:10.15252/embj.201798714. doi:org/10.15252/embj.201798714 [link]
I read biochemistry at Leicester before moving to the University of Dundee to do my PhD under Tom Owen-Hughes. My PhD was focused predominantly on using pulsed EPR to probe the structure of the H3-H4 tetramer complex in solution. After my PhD I continued in the chromatin field carrying out a postdoc at the LMU in Munich in the lab of Andreas Ladurner. There I investigated the role of TPR proteins in histone chaperoning, revealing a novel histone peptide binding module in the protein NASP (Bowman et al., 2016), and discovered a minimal two-chaperone system for the efficient folding of an H3-H4 dimer in vitro (Bowman et al., 2017).
Following my postdoc I took up a position as an Independent Research Fellow at the University of Warwick as part of the Warwick-Wellcome Quantitative Biomedicine Program. During this time I became interested in using a broader range of tools to study the dynamics of the histone chaperoning network. Combining a novel synthetic pulse-labelling technique (RAPID-release) with microscopy and more traditional biochemical tools, we proposed that histones H3 & H4 are rapidly imported into the nucleus as monomers, not as dimeric units, and that a stable nuclear pool of monomeric H3 exists bound to NASP (Apta-Smith et al., 2018).
Between 2018-2023 I was a Sir Henry Dale Fellow at the University of Warwick where my group investigated the role of importin-beta proteins in translocating newly synthesised histone to the nucleus, uncovering a novel pathway for Importin5 in this process (Pardal & Bowman, 2022).
Currently I am an Associate Professor and Course Director for Integrated Natural Sciences at Warwick Medical School.
2023 - Associate Professor, Warwick
2018 - 2023: Sir Henry Dale Fellow, Warwick
2015 - 2018: Independent Research Fellow, Warwick
2013-2015: Marie Curie Fellow, Munich
2011-2013: EMBO fellow, Munich
2010-2011: Research associate, Dundee
2006-2010: PhD student, Dundee
2002-2006: BSc Biochemistry, Leicester
Angel Mtani | Ph.D. student | Warwick ARAP PhD scheme
I'm originally from London and joined the lab after a B.Sc. in Biochemistry at the Univesrity of Portsmouth. In my project I will use the RAPID-release system coupled with proximity biotinylation to investigate chromatin fibre maturation after replication.
This project is a joint collaboration with the Wee Wei Tee lab in Singapore [Link].
Jasmine Ireland| Masters Student | MRes Translational Biomedical Research
I'm originally from the Isle of Mann and completed a Health and Medical Sciences degree at the University of Warwick in 2025. My 3rd year dissertation project was based on investigating the effect of an antifungal compound on protein ubiquitination and I enjoyed it so much I decided to stay for my Masters!.
I'm originally from Nottingham and in the final year of a 4-year integrated Masters course. My project uses fission yeast genetics to study chromatin ubiquitination. I like baking and hand gestures.
Katie Clarke| Masters Student | Master's by Research
I'm originally from Lancashire and pursuing a Masters by Research, joint between the Bowman and McAinsh labs. I am interested in the 3D positioning of chromatin and am using advanced imaging techniques to track chromtin loci in living cells!
I'm originally from the Channel Islands and for my final year dissertation I am charaterisation a novel E3 ligase in vitro.
Alonso Pardal | postdoc | funded by Wellcome Trust
I discovered a novel histone import pathway dedicated to monomeric H3/H4. Read about it here [Link]. I am now a postdoc in the Zhang Lab at the MRC-LMB in Cambridge [Link]
Sehar Sajid| Postdoctoral Fellow | 2019-2020
I worked on a joint project with Prof. Victor Zammit investigating the cellular targeting of ACC2 in human cells using confocal microscopy
I am currently in Pakistan
Mike Apta-Smith| Postdoctoral Fellow | 2016-2017
I studied histone deposition and helped develop the RAPID-release approach.
I moved on to a postdoc position in Colin Taylor's lab, Cambridge.
Filipe Fernandes Duarte | PhD student | funded by MRC
I am originally from Portugal, having studied biochemistry & genetics at the University of Lancaster before joining the MRC-DTP graduate program. After a mini project in the lab during my MSc year, I decided to return to undertake my full PhD.
I am currently persuing a career in consulting in the medical/biotech field
My project involved combining tether-and-release approaches to observe the dynamics of replication domains in single, living cells by pulse-labelling chromatin with fluorescent histones. .
I joined the lab after a B.Sc. at the University of Birmingham. Just stopped for a mini-project before heading off to Aga Gambus's lab at Birmingham for my full PhD. My project was focussed on chromatin ubiquitination.
I'm orignally from London, an after a fun summer project in 2023 I decided to come back to the Bowman Lab for my 3rd year dissertation project. My project is on quantifying molecular interaction kinetics in live cells using fluorescence microscopy.
George Smith| Undergraduate student | MSci. in Integrated Natural Sciences
I'm orignally from Windsor and completed a 4-year MSci in Intergrated Natural Sciences at Warwick. My third year project was aimed at investigating chromatin domain movement in live cells using Lattice LightSheet imaging. I am now a PhD student in Cambridge!
Lauran Salmon | Medical student | SSC2 project
I'm a medical student enrolled on the MBChB course at Warwick Medical School and am purusing a short project in the lab as part of my studies. I have a joint project with Thomas focussed on the role of UBR7 in the histone chaperone network.
Thomas Turner| Medical student | SSC2 project
I'm also medical student enrolled on the MBChB course at Warwick Medical School and, along with Lauren, I'm purusing a short project in the lab as part of my studies. I have a joint project with Lauren focussed on the role of UBR7 in the histone chaperone network.
I studied the role of histone acetylation in nucleosome assembly.
I moved back to the University of Angers in France to finish my studies.
Sir Henry Dale Fellowship | Wellcome Trust/Royal Society
Probing the chromatin assembly pathway.
2018-2023
Warwick Quantitative Biomedicine Programme Fellowship | Wellcome Trust / University of Warwick
Live-cell imagine approaches in studying chromatin assembly.
2015-2018
>> British Science Festival - University of Warwick, Sept 2019
Above | Fil joined the Warwick QBP team to deliver a practical in DNA extraction at the British Science Festival.
>> Cafe Scientifique - Leamington Spa, April 2019
Above | Fil presented his Ph.D. project in a Cafe Scientifique talk in Leamington Spa.
>> U3A talk - Warwick, 25th Apr 2018
Andrew gave a talk to the Warwick division of the University of the Third Age on 'Gene Editing',
with practical demonstrations on how to decode DNA, therapeutic strategies to cure sickle cell anaemia, and precision
genome engineering using CRISPR-Cas9!
Below | Batman appearing mysteriously in SDS-PAGE gel - unfortunately he didn't make it to the final
Above | The shortlisted image of ACC2 perinuclear localisation in cancer cells.
>> Pecha Kucha - Coventry, 29th June 2017
With support from the Warwick Quantitative Biology Program we organised a Pecha Kucha evening at The Tin in Coventry.
Speakers from Warwick Medical School gave 20x20 presentations (20 slides, 20 seconds each) on their research,
with guest speakers from the University of Birmingham (Ferenc Mueller), Tel Aviv University (Oded Rechavi) and The University of Oxford (Jane Mellor).
Interested in chromatin? Join us in the sunny West Midlands!
Fellowships
We are always interested in hearing from motivated individuals who have an interest in using interdisciplinary methods to investigate chromatin structure and function. If you are interested in joining the Bowman lab, contact Andrew Bowman with your CV and a brief overview of your research interests to discuss funding opportunities.
The University of Warwick has a number of doctoral training partnerships, including the MRC-DTP [link], the MIBTP [link] in addition to the Chancellor's International Scholarship [link], the Chancellor's EU Scholarship [link] and others (you can check the University's
scholarship page [here].
Pardal & Bowman (2026) AlphaFold3 turns the H1 dual importin system upside-down. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2026.02.005.
Mamar H. et al. (2024) The loss of DNA polymerase epsilon accessory subunits POLE3-POLE4 leads to BRCA1-independent PARP inhibitor sensitivity. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkae439
Pardal A.J. & Bowman A.J. (2022) A specific role for importin-5 and NASP in the import and nuclear hand-off of monomeric H3. eLife doi.org/10.7554/eLife.81755
Apta-Smith M.J., Hernandez-Fernaud J.R., Bowman A.J. (2018) Evidence for the nuclear import of histones H3.1 and H4 as monomers. EMBO J. doi:10.15252/embj.201798714.
Research summary
You spin me right round, baby right round...
Hampering PARPi resistance
A histone matchmaker
Cradle to grave
Pulsing histones
Andrew Bowman 
Angel Mtani 
Jasmine Ireland
Rowan Boustred
Katie Clarke
Ria Thapliyal
Alonso Pardal 
Sehar Sajid
Mike Apta-Smith
Filipe Fernandes Duarte 
Kinga Koscielniak
Paige Shaw
Lance Fontanilla
George Smith
Lauran Salmon 
Thomas Turner
Olivia Bradley
Sarah Pritchett
Nicole McFadzean
Marco
Nicole Matthews
Elodie Debray
