Joel Swanson, PhD

Dr. Swanson has devoted much of his research career to understanding the mechanisms and regulation of macropinocytosis and phagocytosis in macrophages, processes which require the actin cytoskeleton and extensive membrane trafficking. His lab developed novel experimental methods for analyzing chemistry and molecular dynamics inside living cells and applied them to investigate a wide range of questions in cell biology and innate immunity. His research has concentrated recently on mechanisms of signal transduction underlying phagocytosis and macropinocytosis, as well as the dynamics of endocytic compartments. His lab developed novel microscopic methods to measure protein-protein interactions by FRET, the dynamics of cyclic AMP and the GTPases Rac, Cdc42, Arf1, Arf6 and Rab5 in living cells, the magnitude of signals in forming phagosomes and the timing of signal amplification relative to phagosome and macropinosome closure. Current projects address mechanisms of macropinosome formation and traffic within cells, and the role of nutrients in the regulation of micropinocytosis, and the role of micropinocytosis in cell growth.