Professor David Stephens
B.Sc., Ph.D.(Lond.)
Expertise
David is Professor of Cell Biology and Faculty Research Director for Life Sciences. His research is focused on the organization and function of mammalian cells, especially secretion and cilia function.
Current positions
Emeritus Professor
School of Biochemistry
Contact
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Biography
David studied Biochemistry at Royal Holloway College and did his PhD at St. George's Hospital Medical School (both University of London). This was followed by postdoctoral research first with Prof. George Banting in Bristol and then with Dr Rainer Pepperkok at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. David's time there as an EMBO Long term fellow learning advanced light microscopy while working on COPII-dependent secretion. Following award of a Medical Research Council Non-Clinical Career Development Fellowship in 2001, David started the lab in Bristol. In 2005, David secured a Medical Research Council Non-Clinical Senior Fellowship He took up his core academic post in Bristol in October 2010.
David is a recognized expert in cell imaging, including publishing high-profile reviews and editing a book on cell imaging and another more recently on methods for the analysis Golgi function. Our work has led to many internationally recognized research publications, invitations to speak at prestigious meetings (e.g. Japanese Biochemical Society, Gordon conferences and EMBO workshops), and to contribute high-profile review articles (e.g. in Science and Nature). David has also served on committees of the Royal Microscopical Society and British Society for Cell Biology and was until recently a member of editorial boards for Traffic and Biology Open. He is an Editor for Journal of Cell Science, an affiliate of the BioRxiv preprint server, and an Advisory Board member for Review Commons.
David is a member of BBSRC Council, Faculty Research Director for the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Bristol.
Research interests
My lab is undertaking a focussed research programme studying the organisation and function of the early secretory pathway in mammalian cells. My current research focuses on the function, regulation and organisation of the early secretory pathway. A particular focus of this work is to define how and why mammalian cells are organized in the way that they are; our work seeks to define how intracellular patterning underlies function, and more importantly dysfunction, in human disease. More recently, our interests have evolved to include the trafficking of proteins to and within cilia. In this context we have been working to understand the composition and function of the cytoplasmic dynein-2 motor and its relationship to the formation and function of primary cilia.
The core technical basis of our work is multidimensional live cell imaging and I have considerable experience in the application of wide-field and confocal techniques to the study of living cells. Our work is focussed on the generation and maintenance of the organisation of the pathway, how it is coordinated with cytoskeleton and motor protein function, and how these processes are regulated by protein phosphorylation. In particular, my lab is investigating the functional organisation of ER-to-Golgi transport with specific reference to the macromolecular coat protein complexes, COPI and COPII. Several of the projects in my lab are of direct clinical relevance and we are constantly developing our capabilities, recently including zebrafish genetics and electron microscopy (including immunogold labelling of ultrathin cryosections and tomography).
Our latest work develops our findings from cell biology assays into more physiological contexts including multicellular systems (e.g. cysts grown in 3D matrix) and zebrafish development. These systems form the core approach to our ongoing work which aims to develop our knowledge of COPII-dependent secretion with cell and tissue morphogenesis as well as provide stronger relevance to human disease.
Lab website https://cellbiology.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Organization of the early secretory pathway in vertebrates: the role of the Mia gene family.
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of BiochemistryDates
01/07/2021 to 30/06/2024
8043 sLOLA - BB/T001984/1 - Via Manchester
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of BiochemistryDates
01/01/2020 to 31/12/2024
8043 sLOLA - BB/T001984/1 - Via Manchester
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of BiochemistryDates
01/01/2020 to 31/12/2024
Functional interplay of ciliary trafficking complexes and motor proteins
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of BiochemistryDates
15/05/2019 to 12/05/2023
The role of dynein-2 in building a functional cilium
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of BiochemistryDates
01/02/2019 to 31/01/2024
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Selected publications
04/03/2019ER-to-Golgi trafficking of procollagen in the absence of large carriers
Journal of Cell Biology
ER-to-Golgi Transport
Trends in Cell Biology
TFG Promotes Organization of Transitional ER and Efficient Collagen Secretion
Cell Reports
Recent publications
01/05/2024Roles for CEP170 in cilia function and dynein-2 assembly
Journal of Cell Science
Structure and tethering mechanism of dynein-2 intermediate chains in intraflagellar transport
EMBO Journal
Multiple interactions of the dynein-2 complex with the IFT-B complex are required for effective intraflagellar transport
Journal of Cell Science
TAPT1-at the crossroads of extracellular matrix and signaling in Osteogenesis imperfecta
EMBO Molecular Medicine
Disease-associated mutations in WDR34 lead to diverse impacts on the assembly and function of dynein-2
Journal of Cell Science
Teaching
David was unit lead for the Year 4 MSci Biochemistry Programme until 2019 (which achieved 100% student satisfaction in the NSS) and continues to lead the Cell Biology of Development and Disease unit.
He also teaches on the Year 3 Biochemistry Programme and MSci in Biomedical Sciences Research.
Short-listed for the Students' Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences as part of the 2017 Bristol Teaching Awards