Dr. Marc Coppolino

Dr. Marc Coppolino
Associate Professor
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Email: 
mcoppoli@uoguelph.ca
Phone number: 
53031
Office: 
SSC 2245
Lab: 
SSC 2203B

I was born and raised in Waterloo and received my B.Sc. (Co-op, 1990) from the Department of Biology at the University of Waterloo. After graduating, I continued my laboratory training and became interested in biochemical research while working as a junior technician in the Department of Pharmacology at Merck Frosst Canada in Montreal.

I completed my Ph.D. (1998) under the supervision of Dr. Shoukat Dedhar in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. My doctoral work involved the analysis of protein-protein interactions that regulate cell adhesion during the progression of some types of cancers.

Prior to joining the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Guelph, I finished a 3-year MRC Fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Sergio Grinstein at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. During the course of this fellowship, I studied mammalian host-pathogen interactions, focusing on those involving Salmonella typhimurium. While at the Hospital for Sick Children, I was awarded the 2000 John Charles Polanyi Award for Physiology and Medicine.

My research is currently supported by NSERC.

  • B.Sc. University of Waterloo
  • Ph.D. University of Toronto

Cell adhesion and migration are fundamentally important to the existence of multicellular organisms. This is obvious in light of the numerous diseases that can afflict humans when these processes are impaired. Disruption of normal cellular adhesive and migratory activities can lead to developmental disorders and contribute to the progression of arthritis, immunological deficiencies  and  cancer. Both cell adhesion and migration are complex processes involving numerous biochemical  signalling  events, reorganization of the cellular cytoskeleton and localized  remodelling  of the plasma membrane. It is the goal of my laboratory to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that link these activities, allowing them to be coordinated during changes in cell adhesion and motility.

  • Megan Brasher (Ph.D.)
  • Olivia Grafinger (Ph.D. )
  • Layla Alibabai (M.Sc.)
  • Connor Randall (M.Sc.)