MPhil Cell Biology

Cell biology encompasses research of the cell and its organelles' structural and functional roles, physiology, signalling, cell stress, cell communications, and its applications to the diagnosis and therapy of disease. We integrate expertise in cell biology, structural biology, signalling and the use of model organisms.

Overview

We're a leading international centre for research into the fundamental principles of human physiology, with expertise in all aspects of modern physiology.

Our experimental approaches involve biochemical, behavioural, electrophysiological, molecular, structural and state-of art imaging (such as multiphoton confocal, spinning disk, light sheet and 3D electron microscopy) applied to mammalian cell systems and also to model organisms such as Caenorhabdities elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Dictyostelium.

Our exciting and dynamic research environment benefits from increasing collaboration with academic clinicians looking for cell-based and cell targeted therapies.

Research interests focus on:

• Neuronal cell and synaptic biology, including developmental cell biology and how neuronal intracellular signals are translated into physiological responses
• Role of cellular chaperone proteins in protection from damaging challenges and biological stresses
• Role of key cell signalling pathways (e.g. NFKappaB, Wnt, Erk1/2, AKT etc.) and intracellular messengers (calcium, IP3, cAMP etc.) in health and disease
• Calcium signalling in health and disease, including current focus on the role of calcium signalling, mitochondrial function and bioenergetics in pancreatitis and regulated secretion.
• Cell cycle control/ regulation
• Stem cell biology
• Cell biology of inflammation and infection
• Systems physiology, including the cancer microenvironment, gastric cell physiology. Also Immune and cancer cell invasion biology
• Development of fundamental model systems that can be used for understanding cell responses, damage/stress, cell-cell and cell-matrix communications
• Cell receptor dynamics, endosome trafficking and vesicular transport
• Autophagy and phagocytosis
• Smooth muscle cell physiology, with research in reproductive physiology, ureteric microvessels and respiratory tract.