First person – Sarah Escuin and Saba Raza-Knight

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Sarah Escuin and Saba Raza-Knight are co-first authors on ‘ Dual mechanism underlying failure of neural tube closure in the Zic2 mutant mouse’, published in DMM. Sarah conducted the research described in this article while a research associate in the lab of Prof. Andrew Copp at University College London, London, UK, investigating the mechanisms of neurulation and identifying the causes underlying neural tube defects. Saba conducted the research described in this article while an MB PhD student in the lab of Prof. Andrew Copp and Prof. Nicholas Greene at University College London, London, UK. She is now a specialty trainee in neurosurgery at Salford Royal Hospital, Salford, UK, and an honorary clinical lecturer at the University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, investigating neurovascular disorders, cancer biology and genetics, and hydrocephalus, with an active role in medical education.