Throwing shapes to engulf pathogens and food

The aim of this project is to understand how cells form the shapes they need to engulf things from their environment. This is crucial for immune cells to capture and kill pathogens and sample their environment for antigens, but also allows stem cells and cancer cells to scavenge nutrients to support growth. The focus is on how the actin cytoskeleton is regulated, allowing cells to make the cup-shaped protrusions required to engulf microbes (phagocytosis) and extracellular fluid (macropinocytosis).

You will investigate newly-identified regulators of the cytoskeleton to understand how cells make an engulfing structure, and evolve its shape over time to close. These are fundamental and important questions about which little is known. To study this, you will use a range of cutting-edge cell biology techniques such as genetic modification using CRISPR, fluorescent protein tagging, cutting-edge live cell microscopy and phosphoproteomics.