Cell and Developmental Biology

Cell biology is the study of how cells work as individuals, how they organise into complex groups and how they coordinate their activities within tissues and at different stages of organism development.

We use a variety of approaches and experimental systems to contribute to fields such as neuroscience, immunology, pathogen biology and industrial biotechnology.

Impact

Our basic research in model systems ultimately underpins the development of new treatments for human disease.

Developmental mechanisms are highly conserved among animals, and often genes that are important in human development are also important in cancer and other degenerative diseases.

Our research reflects the Department of Biology's underpinning aim of improving health and tackling diseases.

Research highlights

Electrical charges advancing spread of breast cancer

Altering sugar chains to promote bone growth

Moving closer to solving chronic bladder diseases

People

Name	Expertise
Nia Bryant	SNARE-mediated membrane traffic Insulin action Yeast as a model organism to study human disease
William Brackenbury	Ion channels Breast cancer ionic microenvironment Microglia-tumour cell interactions
Sangeeta Chawla	Synaptic-plasticity Ca2+ signalling Oxidative stress
Dawn Coverley	Functional organization of the mammalian cell nucleus Cell cycle control and cancer Structure, function and exploitation of CIZ1
Paul Genever	Skeletal biology Stem cells and regenerative medicine Signalling and differentiation
Darren L Goffin	Neuroscience Rett syndrome Electrophysiology
Harry Isaacs	Developmental signalling Gene regulation during development Pluripotency and cell lineage specification
Chris MacDonald	Intracellular trafficking of cell surface membrane proteins Cellular responses to nutritional stress Yeast genetics
Betsy Pownall	Skeletal muscle development The regulation of developmental cell signalling Modelling human disease in zebrafish
Paul Pryor	Lysosome and autolysosome biogenesis Lysosomes in health and disease Intracellular pathogen survival
Nathalie Signoret	Molecular cell biology Immunology Infectious diseases
Jenny Southgate	Urothelium bladder cancer TERM (tissue engineering and regenerative medicine)
Sean Sweeney	Endosomal function in synapse development and function Endosomal function in frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic tateral sclerosis Neuronal responses to oxidative stress
Daniel Ungar	Golgi organization Molecular investigation of vesicle tethering Mammalian glycan biosynthesis