Research Interests.

Our research is on the molecular control of cell and tissue growth, with a specific focus on the signalling regulation of the cytoskeleton (protein filaments that determine cellular architecture and behaviour). Our projects seeks to delineate the function of kinases, transcription factors and cytoskeletal proteins as integrated signalling pathways that determine cell expansion, division and fate specification. We are particularly interested in how dysregulated signalling at the cytoskeleton can contribute to the pathology of cancer and age-related conditions such as heart failure and neurodegeneration. Our goal is to provide detailed mechanistic understanding of what goes wrong in disease at the molecular and cellular level with the expectation that this knowledge will trigger new developments in disease treatment. To tackle these research questions, our group utilizes biochemical and molecular cell biology approaches that include:

dynamic live cell fluorescence imaging: quantitative confocal laser scanning microscopy fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) Förster resonance energy transfer/fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy (FRET/FLIM) bimolecular fluorescence complementation super-resolution light microscopy proximity-tagging and ligation quantitative proteomics with stable isotope labelling and mass spectrometry. mammalian cell culture including primary isolation of cardiac myocytes and cortical neurons viral transduction of mammalian cells recombinant protein expression/purification flow cytometry siRNA/shRNA knockdown sgRNA-guided gene editing with CRISPR/Cas9 in vitro enzymatic assays in vivo disease models antibody-based detection of post-translational protein modifications