Research

The major aim of the Soldati group is to understand the cooperation of signalling, cytoskeleton and membrane trafficking in phagocytosis and its relevance to the cell-autonomous immunity against pathogenic bacteria. To this end, we use the genetically and biochemically tractable Dictyostelium discoideum as a model organism. This amoeba is a professional phagocyte very similar in morphology and behaviour to mammalian phagocytes of the innate immune system, but which is ethically un-concerning, allowing significant progress to further the 3Rs cause (Dunn et al, 2018).