Markku Hakala
I am fascinated by complex cellular protein machineries that maintain cell morphology and provide force for cellular processes. During my PhD, I studied assembly and disassembly of actin filament networks in migrating mammalian cells. By using in vitro reconstitution and mammalian cells as a model system, I’m currently studying membrane invagination process in clathrin-mediated endocytosis. I’m focusing on how clathrin coat assembles on membrane and how it deforms membrane to promote endocytosis.
I did my PhD at University of Helsinki, Finland, under supervision of Pekka Lappalainen. During this time, I concentrated on how the turnover of dendritic actin networks is regulated in migrating cells by actin-binding proteins twinfilins and GMF. I joined groups of Aurélien Roux and Marko Kaksonen at University of Geneva in 2020.