David Owen is a structural biologist and biochemist whose group uses an integrated combination of in vitro and in vivo techniques to study how membrane-embedded ‘cargo’ proteins are moved between a mammalian cell’s membranes in transport vesicles and tubules.

Along with their collaborators, his group has focused on understanding the structure and function of the AP2 adaptor complex, which selects cargo for and plays a central role in controlling the internalization of proteins from the cell surface. They have also provided insights into the mechanisms underlying the selective incorporation of SNARE proteins, which allow transport vesicle and tubules to fuse with their correct target membranes, into a range of transport vesicles and of the formation of transport vesicles and tubules that leave endosomes.

He is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and was awarded the Colworth Medal by the British Biochemical Society and the Hooke Medal by the British Society for Cell Biology.