Mapping molecular logics from tissue to organelle
The human body is a highly organised molecular logistics network. Molecules must cross tissue barriers, enter specific cells and reach defined intracellular compartments to support health. Nutrients, metabolites, drugs and nanomedicines each follow distinct routes through this network. However, our ability to directly visualise these routes remains limited.
Our lab aims to transform the study of molecular transport by developing multimodal imaging platforms that map molecules across scales — from whole tissues to single cells and organelles. By combining structural imaging, chemical imaging and computational analysis, we seek to understand how molecular trafficking supports physiology, how transport “traffic jams” contribute to disease, and how these pathways can be hijacked to design better therapeutics.
Research pillar 1
Technology: new biological imaging approaches to study molecular trafficking and metabolism
We develop imaging and AI technologies that allow molecules to be mapped in their native cellular and tissue context.
A central challenge in biology is that structure, molecular identity and function are often measured separately. Our technology stream aims to integrate these dimensions in the same biological sample. We combine light microscopy, electron microscopy and NanoSIMS with stable isotope tracing, chemical labelling and AI-enabled imaging and image analysis to generate high-resolution molecular maps. These approaches allow us to visualise molecular distributions while preserving ultrastructural context. We can determine not only whether a molecule is present, but where it is located within tissue architecture, which cells contain it, and which subcellular compartments it reaches.
Technologies:
-
NanoSIMS imaging
-
Correlative light, electron, and ion microscopy
-
Stable isotope tracing
-
AI-enhanced imaging (EMDiffuse)
-
AI-enabled image analysis (Stablizer)
Research pillar 2
Science: understanding molecular transport in health and disease
We use molecular maps to discover how biomolecules move through tissues and how altered trafficking contributes to disease.
Molecular trafficking is fundamental to physiology. Nutrients must be delivered to metabolically active cells; lipids must move across vascular and epithelial barriers; metabolites must be partitioned into specific cellular compartments. Yet many of these processes remain poorly understood because they occur across multiple biological scales.
Our science programme uses advanced multimodal imaging to study how molecules move through biological systems in vivo. We are particularly interested in lipid transport, nutrient utilisation, metabolism and disease-associated changes in molecular trafficking. By visualising molecular movement directly, we aim to define which cells acquire specific cargos, where these cargos are routed inside the cell, and how these pathways are remodelled in disease.
Research pillar 3
Engineering: designing precision therapeutics by hijacking molecular logistics
We use molecular trafficking maps to guide the design of delivery systems that target the right tissue, cell and organelle.
A major barrier in medicine is delivery. Many therapeutic molecules fail not because they lack activity, but because they do not reach the correct biological destination. A drug may accumulate in the wrong tissue, enter the wrong cell, become trapped in endosomes or fail to reach its molecular target.
Our engineering programme uses molecular trafficking maps as design tools. By visualising where therapeutic molecules travel and where they become trapped, we can identify delivery barriers and redesign carriers, targeting ligands or chemical structures to improve precision delivery. Our long-term goal is to develop therapeutic strategies with tissue, cell and subcellular specificity.
_liver_HM2_denoised_tif.png)