Professor Tony Magee

Tony Magee is Professor of Membrane Biology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London.

Professor Magee trained in biochemistry and protein chemistry and began work on lipid modification of proteins as a post-doc in 1980. He continued to work in this field as an independent investigator at the MRC's NIMR (Mill Hill, 1983-2001) and Imperial College (2001-present).

Professor Magee is an established leader in the field and has been invited to speak at many international conferences, organise colloquia, and notably a FASEB Summer Conference (2002). He has made major contributions in protein prenylation (co-discovering the prenylation of Ras proteins), protein acylation (of Ras proteins and Src family kinases) and lipid rafts (identifying a key role in T cell receptor signaling).

His current interests are in the enzymes catalyzing acylation of cytoplasmic and secreted proteins, in the functional role of protein acylation e.g. in lipid rafts and signalling, and in novel applications of advanced light microscopy imaging.

Professor Magee is the academic lead for the Facility for Imaging by Light Microscopy (FILM), a  multiuser facility in the Sir Alexander Fleming building currently with 8 microscopes (confocals, multiphotons, widefields and TIRF) providing access to state-of-the-art fluorescence microscopy.  A current priority is establishing super-resolution microscopy (PALM, STORM) in FILM (in parallel with ongoing efforts in Physics with Paul French, Mark Neil and Chris Dunsby to further develop STED nanoscopy).  The facility has a highly experienced manager (Dr. M.Spitaler) and two support staff.

Professor Magee currently holds BBSRC and Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Grants.  He is also the Director of Postgraduate Studies for the NHLI and the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Molecular Membrane Biology.