Editor-in-Chief
Michael Way
Michael Way obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, and received postdoctoral training at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK, and the Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA, USA. He was a group leader in the Cell Biology Programme at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany, for 6.5 years before moving to the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute in 2001. The goal of Michael's research is to understand how signalling networks and their underlying machinery regulate cytoplasmic transport and cell migration. He has been a Journal of Cell Science Editor since 2005, and Editor-in-Chief since 2012.
Areas of expertise
Actin, cytoskeleton, GTPases, microtubules, motility, myosin and kinesin motors, signalling (phospho-tyrosine and SH2/SH3 adaptor type), viruses.
Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Kathleen J. Green
Kathleen Green graduated with Distinction in Biology from Pomona College, CA, USA, in 1977 and went on to obtain a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology at Washington University in St Louis in 1982. After carrying our her postdoctoral training in Cell Biology at Northwestern University Medical School, Kathleen joined the faculty of the Pathology and Dermatology Departments, where she is currently the Joseph L. Mayberry Professor of Pathology and Associate Chair for Research and Graduate Education. Kathleen also serves as Program Leader for the Tumor Invasion, Metastasis and Angiogenesis Basic Science Program of the R.H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. Kathleen's research program is directed towards elucidating the structure and function of cell-cell adhesion molecules and their associated intercellular junctions in tissue morphogenesis and differentiation, and in pathological processes such as cancer, autoimmune disorders and inherited diseases. Kathleen served on the Journal of Cell Science Editorial Advisory Board from 1992-2002, when she became an Editor.
Areas of expertise
Plakins, cell adhesion, cell migration, actin, cadherins, desmosomes, epithelial differentiation, focal adhesions, intercellular junctions, intermediate filaments.
Editors
Renata Basto
Renata Basto completed her undergraduate studies in Genetics and Microbiology at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon in Portugal. Her thesis work, under the supervision of Roger Karess and Rui Gomes, focused on studying the metaphase-to-anaphase transition in Drosophila to identify novel components of the spindle assembly checkpoint. She then moved to the University of Cambridge to work with Jordan Raff at the Gurdon Institute on the consequences of centrosome number alterations during fly development. At the end of 2008, Renata was recruited as a Junior Group Leader in the Cell Biology department of the Institut Curie in Paris, France, as a CNRS researcher. Work in the Basto lab uses a variety of model systems such as Drosophila, mouse, human tissue culture and ovarian cancers to address the molecular mechanisms that, in response to centrosome or chromosome number deviations, perturb development and lead to loss of genetic stability. She has been a Journal of Cell Science Editor since 2023.
Areas of expertise
Cell cycle, centrosomes, chromosomes, Drosophila, mitosis, genetic instability, mitotic spindle, microtubules, aneuploidy and polyploidy.
Daniel Billadeau
Daniel Billadeau received his BS in Genetics and Cell Biology from the University of Minnesota – Saint Paul, PhD in Pathobiology from the University of Minnesota – Minneapolis, and postdoctoral training in the area of Molecular Immunology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Daniel subsequently became an Assistant Professor in the Division of Oncology Research and Department of Immunology at Mayo Clinic, where he has risen through the ranks to Full Professor. Daniel is also a faculty member of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and presently serves as the Associate Director for Basic Science in the NCI-funded Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is also the Leader of the Growth, Senescence and Cancer platform in the newly formed Mayo Clinic Center for Biomedical Discovery. Daniel has had a long-standing interest in delineating the signaling pathways regulating natural-killer-cell cytotoxicity and T-cell activation with a specific emphasis toward mechanisms impacting the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons. More recently, his work has also included investigations into the mechanisms regulating receptor trafficking through the endosomal network via WASH and the retromer complexes. Lastly, his lab continues to perform studies in cancer biology where he focuses on signaling pathways regulating pancreatic cancer proliferation and survival as well as pathways involved in generating and maintaining cancer-initiating cells. He has been a Journal of Cell Science Editor since 2015.
Areas of expertise
Signalling, cancer biology, immune cells, actin microtubules.
Simon Cook
Simon Cook became interested in signal transduction during his Biochemistry degree at Royal Holloway College, University of London before going on to do a PhD in Michael Wakelam’s laboratory at the University of Glasgow, where he studied phospholipase C and D signalling. He then joined Frank McCormick’s lab at ONYX Pharmaceuticals in the San Francisco Bay Area as a post-doc studying the RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK1/2 pathway. He remained at ONYX as an Associate Staff Scientist, Staff Scientist and member of the RAS Group Steering Committee, and also served as Project Manager for the Inflammation Project. Simon then joined the Babraham Institute as a Tenure-Track Group Leader and held a Cancer Research UK Senior Cancer Research Fellowship from 2000-2006. From 2013-2021, he coordinated Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation activities within the Institute. Since 2020, Simon has led Babraham’s Signalling Programme and he is currently Institute Director. His research focuses on protein kinase signalling pathways, their regulation and their role in controlling cell proliferation, cell survival and senescence. His translational work with Biotech/Pharma focuses on how these pathways are deregulated in inflammation, cancer and ageing. He joined Journal of Cell Science as an editor in 2024.
Areas of expertise
Cell signalling, signal transduction, protein kinases, cell proliferation, cell survival, cell senescence, cancer, inflammation, aging.
Andrew Ewald
Andrew Ewald received his undergraduate degree in physics with honors from Haverford College. He earned his PhD in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from the California Institute of Technology, studying with Scott Fraser. He completed postdoctoral work with Zena Werb in mammary biology and cancer at the University of California, San Francisco. Andrew joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2008, and is an Associate Professor of Cell Biology, Oncology and Biomedical Engineering. Andrew studies how cells build organs during normal development and how these same processes contribute to breast cancer metastasis. His lab recently identified a unique class of breast cancer cells that lead the process of invasion into surrounding tissues – a first step in cancer metastasis. His students and fellows are currently working to identify molecular strategies to prevent and treat metastatic breast cancer. Andrew was the 3D Cell Biology Guest Editor on Journal of Cell Science during 2015/2016, and became a permanent Editor in 2016.
Areas of expertise
Epithelial morphogenesis, organoids, 3D cell biology.
Caroline Hill
Caroline Hill got her PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, where she worked on chromatin structure with Jean Thomas. She then did her postdoc with Richard Treisman at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, UK, working on the regulation of c-fos gene expression by growth factors. In 1995 she set up her own research lab at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, London, UK to study signalling by TGF-beta superfamily ligands. She moved to the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute in 1998, to head the Developmental Signalling Laboratory. She moved to the Francis Crick Institute in 2015, where she is now an Assistant Research Director. Her work is focused on determining the mechanisms by which TGF-beta superfamily ligands signal to the nucleus, their function in normal physiological conditions, in particular in early vertebrate development, and understanding how their deregulated signaling leads to human disease. She was elected a member of EMBO in 2002 and elected a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2019. She has been a Journal of Cell Science Editor since 2020.
Areas of expertise
Signal transduction, growth factors, cytokines, transcription, zebrafish development, cancer, chromatin and epigenetics.
Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke
Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology at Southampton University, UK, and then obtained a PhD from The ICRF in London, UK, focussing on cell adhesion and skin cancer, under the supervision of Fiona Watt. She then carried out postdoctoral training with Richard Hynes at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, working on in vivo models of cell adhesion in blistering diseases, platelet biology and angiogenesis. Kairbaan has been a Laboratory Head at Barts Cancer Institute since 2004. In 2015, she was awarded the Hooke Medal by the British Society of Cell Biology. She is also an Elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation and an Elected Fellow of The Academy of Medical Science (FMedSci). Her lab currently focuses on tumour blood vessels, angiocrine and pericrine signalling, the tumour microenvironment, and cancer progression. She has been a Journal of Cell Science Editor since 2023.
Areas of expertise
Integrins, cell adhesion, blood vessels, angiogenesis, angiocrine and pericrine signalling, tumour microenvironment, cancer progression, mouse models of cancer.
Megan King
Megan King received her BA in Biochemistry from Brandeis University and her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania. During her postdoctoral training with Günter Blobel at Rockefeller University, she discovered new mechanisms for the targeting and function of integral inner nuclear membrane proteins. Since joining the Cell Biology Department at the Yale School of Medicine in 2009, Megan has continued to investigate the broad array of biological functions that are integrated at the nuclear envelope, from genome integrity to nuclear mechanics to mechanotransduction. In 2018 she teamed up with Patrick Lusk and now co-leads the joint LusKing Lab, which focuses on nuclear mechanics, dynamics and quality control. Megan is a past recipient of the New Innovator Award and was named a Searle Scholar and an Allen Distinguished Investigator. She has been a Journal of Cell Science Editor since 2023.
Areas of expertise
Nuclear pores complexes, nuclear organisation, nuclear integrity, nuclear mechanics, chromatin structure and dynamics, mechanotransduction, quality control.
Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz
Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz obtained her PhD from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, USA, and received postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in Bethesda, MD. From 1992-2016, she acted as Chief of the Section on Organelle Biology in the Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch at the NICHD, before moving her lab to Janelia Research Campus, where she is a Senior Group Leader and Head of Janelia's 4D Cellular Physiology program. Jennifer's research is focussed on understanding how intracellular organelles are assembled and inherited, and how proteins move within cells. Her lab uses various fluorescent imaging techniques to visualize and track molecules and organelles at both diffraction-limited and super-resolution scales. Jennifer has been a Journal of Cell Science Editor since 2000.
Areas of expertise
Microscopy, membrane trafficking, organelles, ER, Golgi, microtubules, motors, organelle biogenesis and membrane-cytoskeletal interactions, protein trafficking, vesicles, autophagy, mitochondria, ESCRT proteins, actin, dynamin, fly embryo development.
Guangshuo Ou
Guangshuo obtained his PhD in cell and developmental biology from the University of California, Davis. His thesis work, conducted under the guidance of Jon Scholey, focused on ciliogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans neurons and elucidated how microtubule-based motor proteins are used to build neuronal cilia. Guangshuo received his postdoctoral training with Ron Vale at the University of California, San Francisco, where he developed imaging techniques to study neuroblast migration and division in C. elegans larvae and discovered a novel myosin-based mechanism underlying neuroblast asymmetric division. In 2011 he was recruited by the Junior One Thousand Talent Plan Award by the Chinese government as an investigator at the Institute of Biophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2013 his group relocated to the School of Life Sciences at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and he became a principle investigator of the Joint Center for Life Sciences at Tsinghua and Peking Universities. He continues to study neuroblast development using C. elegans as a model organism. Guangshuo has been a Journal of Cell Science Editor since 2017.
Areas of expertise
Cell division, cell migration, ciliogenesis, cytoskeleton, motor proteins, neural development and C. elegans.
Robert Parton
Robert Parton studied at the Universities of Edinburgh and Leicester before moving to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. He received Royal Society and EMBO postdoctoral fellowships to work with Gareth Griffiths and Kai Simons before becoming a junior group leader studying plasma membrane domains and cell surface dynamics. In 1996, he moved to the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, where he is currently a group leader in the Institute for Molecular Bioscience and Deputy Director of the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis. His group uses a range of techniques, including advanced light and electron microscopy, and a number of experimental systems such as zebrafish, tissue explants, and cultured cells. His main research areas include microdomains of the plasma membrane, with a particular focus on caveolae, lipid droplets and their role in fighting infection, and novel pathways of endocytosis. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, an Associate Member of EMBO, and an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow. He joined Journal of Cell Science as an editor in 2024.
Areas of expertise
Electron microscopy, membrane trafficking, caveolae, caveolins, cavins, lipid droplets, membrane lipids, endocytosis, muscle structure and function, zebrafish.
Richa Rikhy
Richa is a Professor and Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance Senior Fellow in the Biology Department at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune, India. For her PhD, Richa worked with KS Krishnan at the Department of Biological Sciences in the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, where she studied the mechanisms regulating dynamin dependent synaptic vesicle recycling in the Drosophila neuromuscular junction. During her post doc with Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz at the Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch in the National institute of Child Health and Development, NIH, Bethesda, USA, she studied the mechanisms by which trafficking and mitochondrial dynamics regulate early embryogenesis and stem cell differentiation in Drosophila. Richa started an independent research group in 2010. She studies the role of BAR domain-containing proteins in epithelial morphogenesis in embryogenesis in Drosophila. She also studies how mitochondrial dynamics and activity regulate actin remodelling, polarity formation and differentiation of epithelial cells in Drosophila. Richa joined the journal team as an editor in 2024.
Areas of expertise
Drosophila, embryogenesis, morphogenesis, epithelial cell polarity, BAR domain function, actin remodelling, mitochondrial dynamics, mitochondrial fusion, mitochondrial fission, Drp1, Opa1, Mfn, epithelial cell differentiation.
Giampietro Schiavo
Giampietro Schiavo obtained his PhD from the University of Padua, Italy, and received postdoctoral training at the Department of Biomedical Studies, University of Padua, and at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, USA. He was then recruited as junior group leader at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, where he was Head of the Molecular Neuropathobiology Laboratory. Giampietro's lab moved to the University College London Institute of Neurology in 2013. The goal of Giampietro's research is to understand the mechanisms underlying neuronal membrane trafficking, and how neurons control the uptake and sorting of ligands in health and disease. Elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2011. He has been a Journal of Cell Science Editor since 2007.
Areas of expertise
Neurobiology, membrane sorting and trafficking, molecular motors.
Tamotsu Yoshimori
Tamotsu Yoshimori was educated at Osaka University in Japan, where he received his PhD in Medical Science. He was an assistant professor at Kansai Medical University, a postdoctoral researcher at European Molecular Biology Laboratory, an associate professor at the National Institute of Basic Biology and as a professor at both the National Institute of Genetics and the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University. He is now a professor of genetics at the Graduate School of Medicine and a professor of intracellular membrane dynamics at the Graduate School of Frontier Bioscience, Osaka University. Tamotsui's research interests are focused on intracellular membrane trafficking, and particularly on autophagy. He has been a Journal of Cell Science Editor since 2013.
Areas of expertise
Autophagy, membrane trafficking, endocytic pathway, secretory pathway, organelles, ER, Golgi, endosomes, lysosomes, organelle biogenesis, protein transport, vesicles, membrane dynamics, protein degradation, quality control.
Associate Editors
Sophie Acton
Sophie Acton is a Professor of Immunology at University College London and a Senior Cancer Research UK Fellow. She graduated from the University of Bath in 2004, and received her PhD from UCL in 2008, studying mechanisms of tumour cell metastasis. Sophie spent time as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA and the Francis Crick Institute, London, working on immune cell trafficking and remodelling of lymphoid tissues. She started her group at University College London in 2016 working on the stromal-immune cell crosstalk regulating immune responses within lymphoid tissues and tumour microenvironments. Sophie joined the Journal of Cell Science team as an Associate Editor in 2025.
Areas of expertise
Immune cell biology, immunology, tumour microenvironment, lymphoid tissues.
Pedro Carvalho
Pedro Carvalho studied biochemistry at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. He earned his PhD from the University of Porto in Portugal for work conducted in David Pellman’s laboratory at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, USA. Following his PhD, Pedro joined Harvard Medical School, also in Boston, as a postdoctoral researcher in Tom Rapoport's laboratory. In 2010, he established his own laboratory at the Center for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona. In 2016, Pedro moved to the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at the University of Oxford, where he was appointed the EP Abraham Professor of Cell Biology. His laboratory focuses on investigating quality control mechanisms that maintain endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis, including ER-associated protein degradation. Pedro joined the Journal of Cell Science team as an Associate Editor in 2025.
Areas of expertise
Membrane organelles, protein biogenesis, ubiquitination and protein degradation; lipid homeostasis, proteostasis.
Guillaume Jacquemet
Guillaume Jacquemet earned his PhD from the University of Manchester, UK, and then carried postdoctoral training at the University of Turku, Finland. He currently serves as an Associate Professor at Åbo Akademi University. His laboratory uses and develops live imaging and image analysis methodologies to investigate how cancer cells interact with and respond to their surroundings during metastasis. Guillaume was Guest Editor for the 2024 ‘Imaging Cell Architecture and Dynamics’ special issue, and was appointed as an Associate Editor in 2025.
Areas of expertise
Light microscopy, cell adhesion, cell biology, imaging.
Charlotte Kirchhelle
Charlotte Kirchhelle completed a PhD in interdisciplinary biosciences at the University of Oxford in 2017. Her project focussed on endomembrane trafficking during plant morphogenesis and demonstrated that plant cells specify their edges as essential domains of directional growth control. After her PhD, she continued her research on edge-based growth control as a post-doc and independent research fellow in Oxford, before moving to the Plant Development and Reproduction Laboratory (RDP) at the ENS de Lyon in 2021, where she is a permanent Research Fellow funded by the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAe). At the RDP laboratory, she leads the Mechanotransduction in Development team, which uses a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate how geometric and mechanical factors pattern intracellular transport and cell identity to promote robust morphogenesis. Charlotte joined the Journal of Cell Science team as an Associate Editor in 2025.
Areas of expertise
Plant cell biology, endo-membrane transport, quantitative imaging, plant morphogenesis.
Aryeh Warmflash
Aryeh Warmflash earned his PhD in physics from the University of Chicago, where his work focused on non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and mathematical modelling of cell fate decisions. He completed postdoctoral training in the labs of Eric Siggia and Ali Brivanlou at Rockefeller University, where he transitioned to studying early embryonic development using a combination of modelling and experiments. He started his own lab at Rice University in 2014. His research focuses on morphogen signalling dynamics and self-organised developmental patterning during mammalian gastrulation and neurulation using human embryonic stem cells as a model system. Aryeh joined the Journal of Cell Science team as an Associate Editor in 2025.
Areas of expertise
Stem cells, signalling dynamics, patterning, morphogens, self-organisation.
Guest Editors
Ana J. Garcia-Saez (Cell Biology of Mitochondria)
Ana J. Garcia-Saez is a Professor at the Institute for Genetics, University of Cologne, Germany where she has been a faculty member since 2019. Since October 2023 she has concurrently assumed the position of the Director of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biophysics in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Her primary areas of research include cell death, biophysics, molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry and advanced microscopy. Her projects have been centered around membrane organisation and dynamics, apoptosis regulation, Bcl-2 proteins, and single molecule techniques. Ana’s scientific achievements have been recognized by her selection as an EMBO Young Investigator and a Henriette Herz-Scout of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation, and by two prestigious ERC (European Research Council) Grants.
Ana is coordinating the ‘Cell Biology of Mitochondria’ special issue, which is due to be published in early 2025. Click here for more information.
Areas of expertise
Mitochondria, membrane organisation and dynamics, mitochondrial dynamics and contacts, apoptosis, mitochondrial permeabilisation, biophysics, Bcl-2 protein complexes.
Heidi McBride (Cell Biology of Mitochondria)
Heidi McBride is a Professor at McGill University in the Montreal Neurological Institute. Her work focuses on the molecular mechanisms and function of mitochondrial dynamics. The overarching theme of her research is to understand the fundamental behaviour of mitochondria, including fusion, fission and the generation of mitochondrial-derived vesicles (MDVs). The overarching goal is to identify the molecular mechanisms of communication required to mediate cellular transitions, including metabolic, cell cycle, immune pathways and cell death transitions. Recent areas of research interest include mechanisms of mitochondrial contributions to neurodegeneration; the mechanisms of MDV formation; and the role of the mitochondria as a unique signalling platform in the cell.
Heidi is coordinating the ‘Cell Biology of Mitochondria’ special issue, which is due to be published in early 2025. Click here for more information.
Areas of expertise
Mitochondria, mitochondrial-derived vesicles, mitochondrial fusion and fission, SUMOylation, metabolism, iron transport and homeostasis, peroxisome biogenesis, homeostasis and function, neurodegeneration.
Pleasantine Mill (Cilia and Flagella - from Basic Biology to Disease)
Professor Pleasantine Mill is an MRC Investigator at the MRC Human Genetics Unit at the University Edinburgh, UK where she leads a programme that aims to understand genetic diseases and disease mechanisms linked to the dysfunction of cilia. With 20 years of expertise in developmental genetics and cell biology, her work spans from forward genetic screens through to candidate discovery in human disease genetics. Her lab focuses on phenotype-driven projects that disrupt cilia structure and/or function to undercover underlying genetic changes, understand disease mechanisms and move towards much needed therapeutics for rare diseases. Her novel in vivo work can be summed up as ‘cell biology on an organismal scale’. Her lab also harnesses quantitative imaging across biological scales (from light microscopy through to electron microscopy) to understand how different types of mammalian cilia are assembled and maintained, and how they are disrupted by disease-causing mutations.
Plesantine is coordinating the ‘Cilia and Flagella: from Basic Biology to Disease’ special issue, which is due to be published in late 2025. The deadline for submissions is 1 March 2025. Click here for more information.
Areas of expertise
Cilia, ciliopathies, disease genetics, genetic screens, genome editing, primary ciliary dyskinesia, ciliogenesis.
Lotte B. Pedersen (Cilia and Flagella - from Basic Biology to Disease)
Lotte B. Pedersen is a Professor at the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, where she has been a faculty member since 2005. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying the assembly, maintenance and function of primary cilia, as well as how these processes are affected by mutations in ciliopathy-associated genes. Current research areas of interest center around polarized vesicle trafficking to primary cilia in kidney epithelial cells, and regulation of cilia-mediated release of extracellular vesicles.
Lotte is coordinating the ‘Cilia and Flagella: from Basic Biology to Disease’ special issue, which is due to be published in late 2025. The deadline for submissions is 1 March 2025. Click here for more information.
Areas of expertise
Cell biology, primary cilia, centrosomes, intraciliary trafficking (IFT), cilia assembly, signaling via cilia.
