ProfessorJeremy Simpson

The organisation and regulation of eukaryotic membrane traffic pathways: The internal organelles of mammalian cells provide the possibility of keeping proteins with different functions in separate locations. This is achieved through membrane traffic, a process that uses vesicular and tubular membrane carriers to transport proteins between compartments in both the secretory and endocytic systems. My lab is interested in how these pathways are organised, and in defining the protein machinery that regulates the timing and specificity of trafficking steps. Knowledge of these cellular systems is important for understanding infection and disease, and also for improved drug delivery and biomaterial design.

The UCD Cell Screening Laboratory ( www.ucd.ie/hcs ) actively collaborates with a wide variety of researchers who are interested in using automated high-content screening and analysis technologies as part of their work. The lab is primarily using high-throughput light microscopy approaches to achieve its research goals. In particular we are employing recombination cloning, GFP-tagging, RNA interference and CRISPR technologies to identify the players involved and assess their relevance to particular trafficking steps. Currently many of our projects employ three-dimensional cells systems, such as spheroids, as models to understand how trafficking pathways in individual cells are coordinated across multiple cells in contact with one another. Key techniques include: three-dimensional cell culture; high-throughput GFP-tagging and localisation of novel proteins; RNA interference; reverse and solid phase transfection of cells; High-content screening (HCS) and cell-based assays; advanced light microscopy approaches; advanced image analysis routines.