Membrane Trafficking

Research themes

Vesicle identity and fail-safe mechanisms

How do vesicles acquire and maintain the correct identity, and how are identity errors prevented during transitions between the plasma membrane and endosomal compartments?

Macropinocytosis in cancer

How do KRAS-driven tumours exploit macropinocytosis for nutrient acquisition, and which steps can be targeted to disrupt this pathway without harming normal tissues?

Switching between “Drink” and “Drive”

Macropinocytosis and migration rely on overlapping actin and lipid signalling but compete in time. We study the regulatory logic that shifts cells between nutrient uptake and invasive behaviour.

Pathogen exploitation of endocytic uptake

We investigate how pathogens hijack macropinocytosis and related uptake routes, using virus-like particles and functional genetics to map host factors required for entry.

Approaches

Genome editing and CRISPR screening, advanced live-cell microscopy (including light-sheet), and quantitative image analysis.

The lab