School of Life Sciences

University of Dundee

Professor Mark Field

Molecular parasitology, intracellular transport, gene expression, eukaryotic evolution
Position: 
Professor of Cell Biology and Parasitology
Affiliation: 
Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery
Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research (WCAIR)
Address: 
School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee
Full Telephone: 
+44 (0) 1382 384860, int ext 84860
Email: 
Website: 
The Field Laboratory

Research

Parasitic disease continues to constitute a major global threat. We study fundamental aspects of parasite biology to identify new therapeutic targets for clinical intervention, focusing on the African Trypanosome, Trypanosoma brucei (the causal agent of sleeping sickness in humans and livestock in sub-Saharan Africa), and specifically macromolecular transport, signaling, gene expression and evolution. Our specific areas of research interest include: The roles of components of the endocytotic pathway in drug sensitivity, virulence in vivo and protein/lipid sorting mechanisms, understanding the contribution of the nuclear pore complex and nuclear envelope on gene expression and reconstructing the evolutionary history of intracellular transport pathways and the origins of the eukaryotic cell.

Publications

  1. Koumandou, V.L., Wickstead, B., Ginger, M., van der Geizen, M., Dacks, J.B., and Field, M.C., (2014) ‘Molecular palaeontology and unprecedented complexity in the last eukaryotic common ancestor.’ Critical Reviews in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 48 373-396
  2. Alsford, S., Eckert, S., Baker, N., Glover, L., Sanchez-Flores, A., Leung, K.F., Turner, D.J., Field, M.C., Berriman, M and Horn, D., (2012) 'High-throughput decoding of anti-trypanosomal drug efficacy and resistance.' Nature 482 232-236
  3. DuBois, K.N., Alsford, S., Holden, J.M., Buisson, J., Swiderski, M., Bart, J.M., Ratushny, A.T., Wan, Y., Bastin, P., Barry, J.D., Navarro, M., Horn, D., Aitchison, J.D., Rout, M.P., and Field, M.C., (2012) ‘NUP-1 is a large coiled-coil nucleoskeletal protein in trypanosomes with lamin-like functions.’ PLoS Biology 10 e1001287
  4. Elias, M., Brighouse, A., Gabernet-Castello, C., Field, M. C., and Dacks, J.B., (2012) ‘Sculpting the endomembrane system in deep time: High resolution phylogenetics of Rab GTPases’ Journal of Cell Science 125, 2500–2508
  5. Lumb, J.H., Leung, K.L., DuBois, K.N., and Field, M.C., (2011) 'Rab28 function in trypanosomes: Interactions with retromer and ESCRT pathways.' Journal of Cell Science 124 3771-3783
  6. deGrasse, J., DuBois, K., Devos, D., Siegel, T.N., Sali, A., Field, M.C., Rout, M.P., and Chait, B.T., (2009) ‘Evidence for a shared nuclear pore complex architecture that is conserved from the last common eukaryotic ancestor.’ Molecular and Cellular Proteomics 8 2119-2030
  7. Gabernet-Castello, C., Dacks, J.B., and Field, M. C., (2009) ‘The single ENTH domain protein of trypanosomes; functional and evolutionary relationship with the epsins.’ Traffic 10 894-911
  8. Chung, W.L., Leung, K.F., Carrington, M., and Field, M.C., (2008) ‘Position-specific ubiquitylation is required for internalisation and degradation of trans-membrane surface proteins in trypanosomes’ Traffic 9 1681-1697
  9. Leung, K.F., Dacks, J.D., and Field, M.C., (2008) ‘Evolution of the multi-vesicular body ESCRT machinery; retention across the eukaryotic lineage.’ Traffic 9 1698-1716
  10. Dacks, J.B., Poon, P.P., Field, M.C., (2008) ‘Phylogeny of endocytic components yields insight into the process of non-endosymbiotic organelle evolution.’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 105 588-593