Institute of Cell Biology - Experimental Systems

Our research makes use of the following powerful experimental systems:

Bacteria

Image of E. coli - Chromosomal origins in green and termini in red

Escherichia coli is a powerful system for the investigation of universal molecular mechanisms (Leach) and an essential tool for genetic manipulation (all research groups).

Yeast

Image of S. cerevisiae Image of S. pombe

Budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) are the most powerful unicellular eukaryotic systems. They are widely used throughout the Institute.

(Allshire, Beggs, Fantes, Hardwick, Leach, Ohkura, Sawin, Tollervey, Vogelauer)

Filamentous Fungi

Image of N. crassa

Filamentous fungi (especially Neurospora crassa) provide simple and accessible systems for the study of polarized cell growth and development.

(Read)

Fruit Fly

Image of D. melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster was one of the original genetic systems and is now widely used as a model multicellular eukaryote

(Bownes, Davis, Earnshaw, Finnegan, Heck, Ohkura)

Clawed Toad

Image of X. laevis

Xenopus laevis provides a powerful system for the integration of vertebrate cell biology, biochemistry and development.

(Macleod)

Cultured Cells

Image of Dick Nixon cell. COS7 nucleus expressing a lamin B1 dominant-negative mutant in red, wild-type lamin A in green and DNA in blue

Cultured cells provide a direct and efficient route to the study of cell biology in vertebrates and Drosophila. Examples of cultured cells used are Drosophila S2 cells, chicken DT-40 and MSB-1 cells and human HeLa, HL-60 & U20S cells.

(Bird, Earnshaw, Heck, McQueen, Schirmer, Stancheva, Telfer)

Mouse

To answer questions relating to mammalian development and cell function within the context of the organism, the mouse provides the most powerful system.

(Bird, Bownes, Macleod, Telfer)