30^th October at 12:00
Onsite event
in Presidentti auditorium, BioCity
Autumn 2025 program

Prof. Maddy Parsons, King’s College London, UK
Imaging dynamics and mechanics in cancer

Host: Guillaume Jacquemet (guillaume.jacquemet@abo.fi)

Coffee and sandwich served at 11:45, first come first serve!

Six PhD researchers and early-career postdocs are welcome to have a lunch and discuss with Prof. Parsons after the seminar. This is a great possibility to learn hosting skills in a friendly environment and create connections for future. Everyone is welcome to join, BioCity Turku will offer the lunch.

If you got interested, please send an email to biocityturku@bioscience.fi

Parson labs’ research is aimed at understanding the mechanisms that regulate adhesion and migration in adherent cells. Adhesion is essential for development and homeostasis but also drives pathological states such as cancer, fibrosis and inflammation. Using 3D model systems, molecular biology and advanced microscopy approaches, the team analyses how receptors convert signals from the extracellular environment to control cell behaviour. Their goal is to then translate this information into defining new targets for therapeutic intervention in cancer, skin disease and lung inflammation.

Selected publications

Bronchoconstriction damages airway epithelia by crowding-induced excess cell extrusion. Bagley DC, Russell T, Ortiz-Zapater E, Stinson S, Fox K, Redd PF, Joseph M, Deering-Rice C, Reilly C, Parsons M, Brightling C, Rosenblatt J. Science. 2024 Apr 5;384(6691):66-73

Imaging actin organisation and dynamics in 3D. Phillips TA, Marcotti S, Cox S, Parsons M. J Cell Sci. 2024 Jan 15;137(2):jcs261389

Epithelial coxsackievirus adenovirus receptor promotes house dust mite-induced lung inflammation. Ortiz-Zapater E, Bagley DC, Hernandez VL, Roberts LB, Maguire TJA, Voss F, Mertins P, Kirchner M, Peset-Martin I, Woszczek G, Rosenblatt J, Gotthardt M, Santis G, Parsons M. Nat Commun. 2022 Oct 27;13(1):6407

Nuclear fascin regulates cancer cell survival. Lawson CD, Peel S, Jayo A, Corrigan A, Iyer P, Baxter Dalrymple M, Marsh RJ, Cox S, Van Audenhove I, Gettemans J, Parsons M. Elife. 2022 Aug 30;11:e79283

General information

• You can download and save all the autumn 2025 FoS-seminars to your calendar from here: https://seafile.utu.fi/d/44a70f80ac1e46a9ad0a/
• Registration is not needed, participation list is circulated in the audience
• If you are a student and later wish to get a certificate of attendance from the Frontier of Science seminars, print out the seminar diary and after the seminar ask the BioCity coordinator to sign it https://seafile.utu.fi/d/44a70f80ac1e46a9ad0a/
• Please note that any audio or video recording of the seminars is strictly forbidden.
• Autumn 2025 image credits to Kari Kaunisto: Sahlberg family collections, Biodiversity unit, University of Turku