Staff profile

My thesis will focus on the nuclear pore complex (NPC) is the gateway into and out of the nucleus. NPCs are key for maintaining cellular homeostasis by maintaining a barrier function between the cytoskeleton and the nucleoskeleton.  During ageing and physical/chemical stresses, NPCs can become inefficient and leaky, upsetting cellular homeostasis and leading to pathologies. I will be using C.elegans intestine as a model system to assess the effects of stress and aging on the NPC and its interactions with the cyto- and nucleoskeleton. During this project, I will be using super resolution light microscopy techniques of live and fixed worms, 2D electron microscopy (EM) and 3D volume EM to assess the structural organisation of NPCs and cytoskeleton throughout the intestine, and how this is disrupted during stress and aging.