I am interested on the dynamic aspects of the cell’s trafficking machinery, with a special focus on endocytic dynamics. More specifically, our study centers on the mechanisms by which the cell modulates vesicular traffic by altering:

• The rate of formation of vesicular carriers, such as clathrin coated vesicles.
• The spatio-temporal distribution of the process of vesicular carrier formation.
• The make-up and structure of transport vesicles.

We will look at the modulatory effects of the following processes:

• Viral infection. We are currently working with viruses from the Reoviridae family.
• Cell attachment and spreading.
• Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT); a process essential for the metastatic progression of epithelial tumors.

In addition to the basic biochemical and cell biological techniques, we employ time-lapse microscopy with living cells as a mean to observe, characterize and quantify the cell’s trafficking events.