姓名：
Pekka Lappalainen
职称：
芬兰科学院院士
简介：
Pekka Lappalainen carried out his PhD-work at EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany, where he studied the structure and function of the electron entry site of cytochrome c oxidase. This was followed by a post-doctoral work with David Drubin at UC Berkeley, USA focusing on actin dynamics in budding yeast. Since 1998 he has been an independent group leader at University of Helsinki, and is currently a Professor of Quantitative Cell Biology. Pekka Lappalainen is an international leader in the cytoskeleton field, and his group studies how structure and dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton are regulated in cells, and how actin-based structures contribute to cell migration, adhesion, morphogenesis, and mechanosensing. For these studies, they use an array of biochemical, biophysical, structural biology, and cell biology methods. Pekka Lappalainen is an elected EMBO member, and currently serves in the editorial boards of Journal of Cell Biology and Cell Reports.
Recent highlights from their research include identification of conserved molecular mechanisms promoting rapid actin filament disassembly and monomer ‘re-charging’ (Nat. Cell Biol. 2021; Nat. Comm. 2018; 2019; 2022), and uncovering the mechanisms by which contractile, mechanosensitive actin filament arrays are generated in non-muscle cells (Cell Reports, 2018; Curr. Biol. 2019; 2020; Nat. Comm. 2022; 2024; eLife, 2021).