Postdoctoral researcher specialized in membrane trafficking, autophagy and infection.
I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in Barbara Sixt Lab, where I investigate the role of the autophagy machinery during Chlamydia trachomatis infection. My current research aims to understand how autophagy influences the outcome of infection, uncovering the pro- or anti-chlamydial roles of the autophagy machinery and how it may respond to different bacterial effector proteins.
I completed my first postdoc in Professor Yaowen Wu’s Lab in the Department of Chemistry at Umeå University, where I studied non-canonical autophagy and membrane repair. I investigated the individual contributions of the six mammalian ATG8 proteins to ESCRT-dependent lysosomal membrane repair and subsequently examined their roles in lysosomal repair using in vitro brain models. In collaboration with Professor Li Yu at Tsinghua University, I also conducted a medium-throughput screen to identify small-molecule inhibitors and activators of migrasome formation.
I received my PhD from the University of Greenwich, UK, in 2023, specialising in membrane trafficking and drug delivery. In Dr Simon Richardson’s lab in the Faculty of Engineering and Science, I developed an exosome-based platform for the delivery of biologics, modelled on the cellular trafficking of recombinant attenuated anthrax toxin. In collaboration with Dr Joachim Bugert at the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, I also investigated the protective effects of siRNA molecules against Zika virus infection.
Across my research, I am interested in how membrane trafficking and autophagy regulate cellular responses to infection, stress, and membrane damage.