Goldstein Lab

Funding

Our Research at the University of Cambridge is supported by a number of sources. Chief among them is the Alan Turing Professorship of Complex Physical Systems.

Grants currently funding work in the group include:

We have a Discovery Award from the Wellcome Trust for the project "Physical Principles of Extracellular Matrix Generation in Multicellular Organisms". This 5-year award allows us to focus on several related topics in the growth and mechanics of ECM formation, using members of the Volvocine green algae as model organisms, but also involving sponges and choanoflagellates, the closest living relatives of animals. Our work will help answer the questions: "How do cells make structures external to themselves in a robust and accurate manner?".

A Research Project Grant from the Leverhulme Trust on "Cellular Biophysics of Choanoflagellate Sheets" will focus on the remarkable properties of the recently discovered choanoflagellate C. flexa, which takes the form of a bowl-shaped raft of cells held together by adhesive contacts between the microvilli collars on cells. Changing light conditions or chemicals can induce shape transformations between two curved forms of opposite curvature, each with distinct motility. This leads to a form of photokinesis. Our work combines experiment and theory in understanding such emergent properties.

We are grateful to the agencies below for prior research support