Lab Team

Laura Machesky

Principal Investigator

Laura is currently the Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry, having recently moved to Cambridge from Glasgow.  Her group uses cell biology and cancer models to study actin dynamics, adhesion and membrane trafficking and how these fundamental cell processes guide migration, cancer invasion and metastasis.  Her group is interested in how cells sense physical parameters of their environment and adapt their signaling and metabolic flux in response to environmental stimuli.  She collaborates with bioengineers and physicists to develop reproducible and tuneable tools for modelling normal and cancerous cell and tissue function.  She is currently president of the British Society for Cell Biology, a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Academy of Medical Sciences.  She is a co-chair of the EngBio Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Cambridge and co-lead of the Cell and Molecular Biology theme of the CRUK Cambridge Cancer Centre.

Roberta Palmu lli

Originally from Bari (Italy), I completed my PhD in Cellular Biology at Institut Curie in Paris (University of Paris). In 2020, I joined the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge to pursue a postdoc, until July 2023 when I joined the Machesky Lab. My previous research focused on the study of endosomal trafficking, extracellular vesicles biogenesis and roles during cancer. In the Machesky’s lab, I am focusing on understanding the effect of ECM mechanosensing on the capacity of pancreatic cancer cells to take up nutrients through macropinocytosis. Since 2020 I am a member of the management committee of the Postdoc of Cambridge Society. In my free time, I enjoy exercising and cycling, cooking, going to concerts, and sharing a good meal with friends.

Lisa Dobson

I joined the Machesky Lab in March 2023, following the completion of my PhD in Developmental Cell Biology from King’s College London. My research interest is centered on better understanding the regulation of actin-based protrusions and focal adhesion dynamics, and their relative contribution to mesenchymal migration. Having studied these processes in the context of neural crest migration in the embryo, I am now excited to apply these principles to investigate how phosphorylation-mediated regulation of the creatine-phosphagen shuttle may shape actin- and focal adhesion dynamics during invasive PDAC cell migration. In my free time, I enjoy trying out the many coffee shops of Cambridge and going for walks by the river.

After completing a Master’s in Molecular Biology at the University of Bath, I joined the Machesky Lab as a Research Assistant in May 2024. I am fascinated by the dynamic processes that take place in cells, with topics of my previous projects ranging from membrane trafficking to mechanotransduction. My project in the Machesky lab surrounds the role of matrix remodelling in pancreatic cancer, in particular, looking into one of the lesser-known forms of collagen, Collagen VI, and its emerging role in metastasis. Outside work, I enjoy listening to music, working out and making sand sculptures!