Joe Atherton

Cryo-electron microscopy, Neuroscience, Cell cytoskeleton.

Microtubules are essential dynamic cytoplasmic filaments, serving structural roles and as platforms for molecular motors and compartmentalised signalling. Microtubule organisation is regulated by an array of binding partners. Microtubules and associated proteins are indispensable to eukaryotic cellular fundamentals including cell division, differentiation and plasticity. Their dysfunction or hijack are implicated in cancers, neurological conditions and infectious diseases. The Atherton group aims to unveil the mechanisms of microtubule-associated regulators and molecular motors integral to cellular function and dysfunction, with a central nervous system emphasis, primarily using the powerful and popular technique of cryo-electron microscopy to determine structure-function relationships at various scales.