Subcellular Structure and cellular Dynamics

The "Subcellular Structure and Cellular Dynamics" Unit is located on the central Paris site in the Lhomond building (Constant-Burg Laboratories). The Unit, with shared supervision of CNRS and in partnership with UPMC, now comprises 13 research groups and six core facilities consisting of about 200 people, including 40 staff scientists, 40 students, 40 post-docs, and 50 administrative and technical staff.

The mission of this Unit is to understand the biogenesis of the cell's compartments and the molecular mechanisms that govern the cell's normal functions. We have developed a wide variety of approaches for this purpose ranging from molecular cell biology and live-cell imaging to physics and bioinformatics.

This fundamental knowledge about the cell is essential to understand how normal functions break down during the development of cancers as well as to identify new therapeutic approaches.

The main research themes of the Unit include:

• Transport pathways between compartments.
• The dynamics of the actin- and microtubule-based cytoskeletons.
• Three-dimensional structures of molecular motors. 
• Mechanisms of cell division and cell migration.
• The mechanisms involved in establishing the polarity of epithelia and their differentiation.
• Signalling pathways associated with tumour progression in several mouse models and human tumours.
• Regulation of adhesive systems during morphogenesis and development.