Dr. Cahir O'Kane

Research history:

My Ph.D. in Dublin involved generating random transcriptional fusions in Bacillus subtilis. In postdoctoral work with Walter Gehring I developed a similar approach in Drosophila, enhancer trapping, since used widely in flies. After establishing my ownlaboratory in Warwick University I extended this methodology to allow disruption of neuronal or general cell function by targeted toxin expression, and targeted expression of tetanus toxin light chain has been used by many groups for behaioural studies. In recent years I have become interested in membrane traffic in and around synapses, in the processes that lead to reformation of synaptic vesicles from the plasma membrane, and in related membrane deformation processes in neurons and muscles. Investigation of the roles of proposed endocytic accessory proteins in Drosophila has revealed unexpected non-endocytic roles for some of these. A recent highlight has been the identification of role for amphiphysin protein in formation of T-tubule membrane invaginations in muscle, which appears to be conserved between flies and vertebrates.

More details @ http://www.gen.cam.ac.uk/newdept/research/labs/okanehistory.htm