New UMC Utrecht EMBO member

Cell biologist Dr. Catherine Rabouille from the UMC Utrecht has been elected as EMBO member. Recently the European Molecular Biology Organization made public the names of 66 new members, among them two Dutch researchers.
Dr. Catherine Rabouille is associate professor at the Department of Cell Biology and she studies membrane traffic in a developing organism, Drosophila melanogaster. Her lab has first focused on using Drosophila cells to identify molecular principles underlying the organisation/structure and function of the early secretory pathway. Also, Rabouille and colleagues have studied the role of this pathway in Drosophila oogenesis.

In 2008 Rabouille received a ZonMW grant for a research project on integrin transport. These receptor proteins mediate signaling to epithelial cells and support epithelium adhesion and integrity. Rabouille’s research focuses on the regulation of integrin deposition in time and space in physiological and pathological conditions, including cancer. Indeed, when epithelial cells lose adhesion and attachment to neighboring cells, they can form tumors and metastasize.

The election as EMBO Members is a tribute to the significant contribution to the advancement of science made by each of these researchers. EMBO elects new members annually on the basis of scientific excellence. EMBO Members provide scientific input to the organisation, may participate in committees that guide the execution of EMBO activities, have the opportunity to mentor young scientists and may nominate candidates for the annual membership elections. Leading peer-reviewed journals – The EMBO Journal, EMBO reports and Molecular Systems Biology – span all aspects of molecular biology and reflect how science is shaping the world. EMBO-sponsored training and networking activities impact thousands of scientists every year, promoting collaboration in all areas of molecular biology – within Europe and worldwide.