Andrew Carter is fascinated by dyneins: a family of proteins which drive movement along cellular filaments called microtubules. His main focus is dynein-1, which transports cargos throughout our cells, underpins essential developmental processes and is frequently hijacked by viruses. He also contributed to our understanding of dynein-2, responsible for transport within cilia, and the outer dynein arm (ODA) complex that drives cilia beating.
By combining structural, biophysical and cell biology approaches, Andrew made many of the key discoveries that provide the foundation for our understanding of dynein mechanisms. These include how dyneins couple ATP hydrolysis to movement, how dynein-1 is regulated and how it selects its diverse cargos. He also uncovered a novel, highly conserved assembly pathway for the ciliary ODA dyneins.
Andrew studied biochemistry at the University of Oxford, obtained his PhD from the MRC Lab of Molecular Biology, Cambridge and was a postdoc at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, a member of EMBO (2016) and recipient of the British Society of Cell Biology Hooke Medal (2023).
Professional position
- Programme Leader, Structural Studies Division, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Subject groups
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Molecules of Life
Biochemistry and molecular biology, Biophysics and structural biology, Cell biology (incl molecular cell biology)