Harvey McMahon conducts a highly creative research programme centred on molecular mechanisms underlying endocytosis. He has discovered different lipid-bending and curvature-sensing mechanisms, and established their generality in facilitating vesicle trafficking between different cellular compartments. The strength of his work is two-fold: first, by undertaking electron microscopic and X-ray diffraction studies, he has been able to formulate novel hypotheses regarding protein function; and second, he has developed imaginative biochemical and cell-free assays to test these structure–function predictions. His research is ground-breaking, having a profound influence on current concepts of molecular processes fundamental to all cells.
Interest and expertise
Subject groups
Biochemistry and molecular cell biology
Cell biology (incl molecular cell biology), Biophysics and structural biology