As a community journal, Journal of Cell Science is particularly keen to support the next generation of cell biologists. Here we present a series of interviews with ‘Cell Scientists To Watch’. These researchers talk about their work in the lab and the journeys that led them to where they are now. They also discuss the current state of science funding and give advice on how to navigate the transition to independence. Read the interview transcripts and watch short videos of each interviewee below. Know someone you think we should interview? Email us!
Christian Behrends (Frankfurt, Germany)
Christian Behrends is a group leader at the Medical School of Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. His lab focuses on the basic mechanisms of autophagy, particularly concentrating on the role of ubiquitin signalling, and the crosstalk between autophagy and other vesicular trafficking pathways.
J. Cell Sci. 2016, 129: 3057-3058 [Full Text] [PDF]
Meritxell Huch (University of Cambridge, UK)
Meritxell Huch is a group leader at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, UK and a Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Dale Research Fellow. She investigates the mechanisms responsible for adult tissue regeneration in the liver and the pancreas.
J. Cell Sci. 2016, 129: 2877-2879 [Full Text] [PDF]
Sascha Martens (Vienna, Austria)
Sascha Martens is group leader at the University of Vienna Max F. Perutz Laboratories in Austria. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that orchestrate autophagy.
J. Cell Sci. 2016, 129: 651-652 [Full Text] [PDF]
Virgile Viasnoff (France/Singapore)
Virgile Viasnoff holds a dual appointment between the CNRS in France and the MBI in Singapore. His lab in Singapore investigates how the physical and biochemical parameters of the cellular microenvironment regulate cell–cell adhesion and cell fate.
J. Cell Sci. 2016, 129: 459-460 [Full Text] [PDF]
Lei (Stanley) Qi (California, USA)
Lei (Stanley) Qi is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University, California, USA, and a faculty fellow in Stanford ChEM-H. His research focuses on applying genome engineering and CRISPR technologies to genetic interaction networks related to cell differentiation, proliferation, epigenetic regulation and diseases.
J. Cell Sci. 2016, 129: 243-244 [Full Text] [PDF]
Melina Schuh (Göttingen, Germany)
At the time this interview was conducted, Melina Schuh was a group leader at the Medical Research Council – Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. She is now a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany. Her research focuses on meiosis in mammalian oocytes.
J. Cell Sci. 2016, 129: 7-8 [Full
Julie Welburn (Edinburgh, UK)
Julie Welburn is a group leader at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology in Edinburgh. Her laboratory works on microtubules and microtubule motors and their function during cell division and differentiation.
J. Cell Sci. 2015, 128: 4465-4466 [Full Text] [PDF]
Christine Mayr (New York, USA)
Christine Mayr is an assistant professor at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre and the Weill Cornell Medical School at Cornell University in New York, USA. She investigates how untranslated regions of the mRNA regulate protein function.
J. Cell Sci. 2015, 128: 4251-4252 [Full Text] [PDF]
Maya Schuldiner (Rehovot, Israel)
Maya Schuldiner is a principal investigator at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences, Rehovot, Israel, and is investigating novel functions of proteins involved in yeast organelle biology.
J. Cell Sci. 2015, 128: 4029-4031 [Full Text] [PDF]
José Silva (University of Cambridge, UK)
José Silva is a Senior Group Leader at the Wellcome Trust – Medical research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute at the University of Cambridge, UK. He works on nuclear reprogramming and induced pluripotency.
J. Cell Sci. 2015, 128: 3841-3842 [Full
Thomas Wollert (Martinsried, Germany)
Thomas Wollert is an independent group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany. His research aims to elucidate the mechanism of autophagosome formation.
J. Cell Sci. 2015, 128: 3685-3686 [Full Text] [PDF]
Irene Miguel-Aliaga (Imperial College London, UK)
Irene Miguel-Aliaga is a Programme Leader at the Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre and a Reader at Imperial College London, UK. Her research focuses on understanding the biology of gut cells.
J. Cell Sci. 2015, 128: 3519-3520 [Full Text] [PDF]
Philip Zegerman (University of Cambridge, UK)
Philip Zegerman is a group leader at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, UK. He works on the regulation of DNA replication initiation.
J. Cell Sci. 2015, 128: 3361-3362 [Full Text] [PDF]
Victoria Cowling (University of Dundee, UK)
A group leader at the Department of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, UK, Victoria Cowling studies the biology of the mRNA methyl cap.
Paul Conduit (University of Cambridge, UK)
Paul Conduit is a group leader at the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK. He works on gamma tubulin ring complexes.
J. Cell Sci. 2015, 128: 2401-2402 [Full Text] [PDF]