Molecular Medicine
The Section of Molecular Medicine (MM) was created in August 2007, as a result of the merging of the sections of Molecular and Cellular Medicine and Biological Nanoscience. The Section is housed in the Sir Alexander Fleming Building on the South Kensington Campus of Imperial College. Most laboratories are found on the 2nd floor. MM regroups scientists with interests in fundamental aspects of cell and molecular biology, enhanced by expertise in physiology, biophysics, spectroscopy, single molecule imaging and state-of-the-art microscopies. The work extends research in the basic sciences at the National Heart and Lung Institute.
Current Principal Investigators in the Section include:
- Professor Nancy Curtin – Laboratory of muscle physiology
- Professor Michael Ferenczi (Head of Section) – Laboratory of muscle biophysics
- Professor Tony Magee (Deputy Head of Section) – Laboratory of Membrane Biology
- Professor Miguel Seabra – Laboratory of Membrane Traffic and Disease
- Dr Vania Braga – Laboratory of Cell-cell Adhesion Signalling
- Dr Michael Emerson – Laboratory of Platelet Biology
- Dr Richard Harbottle – Laboratory of Gene Therapy
- Dr Paul Kemp - Laboratory of cell signalling and muscle development
- Dr Birgit Leitinger – Laboratory of Biology of Matrix-Activated Receptors
- Dr Pradeep Luther – Laboratory of Electron Tomography of muscle sarcomere
- Dr Liming Ying – Laboratory of Single Molecule Biophysics
In addition, the section hosts FILM, the Facility for Imaging by Light Microscopy, which provides two wide-field and six confocal microscopes, with a variety of configurations, for achieving the highest quality images. We have upright and inverted microscopes, FLIM and FRET for a wide range of fluorophores, environmental chambers for live cell imaging, imaging software and data storage. The facility is run by Dr Martin Spitaler and a full time assistant.
Research in the section is principally funded from programme and project grants from Research Councils (MRC, BBSRC) and charities (Wellcome Trust, British Heart Foundation and others).
Molecular Medicine Section May 2008 (click for full sized version)
Seventy four people currently work in the Section (September 2008), including 11 heads of laboratories, 29 PhD students, 26 Postdocs and researchers, 6 technicians and a number of MRes students, visitors and honorary researchers. Section Administrator Peter Moore 020 7594 3175 (Room 360)
