Kathryn Rachel Ayscough is a British molecular cell biologist, professor of molecular cell biology, and head of the Department of Biomedical Science at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the role of the actin cytoskeleton in membrane trafficking, endocytosis, and cell organisation.
Early life and education
Ayscough attended a comprehensive school near Bristol before studying biochemistry at the University of Oxford, where she was an undergraduate at Exeter College. She pursued doctoral research at University College London (UCL) in the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, completing a PhD on the Golgi apparatus in Schizosaccharomyces pombe under the supervision of Graham Warren (1993).
Academic and research career
After her PhD, Ayscough held a Wellcome Trust research fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, working with David Drubin. She subsequently joined the University of Dundee as a Wellcome Trust Development Fellow and later became a Medical Research Council fellow at the University of Glasgow in 1999.
In 2003 she moved to the University of Sheffield, initially within the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, and was promoted to professor in 2012. In 2016 she was appointed head of the Department of Biomedical Science at Sheffield. She is a member of the Faculty of 1000 and has received funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
Research contributions
Ayscough’s laboratory investigates how actin dynamics drive the inward bending of the plasma membrane during endocytosis. Her work has elucidated the cooperative functions of actin, dynamin, and amphiphysin in vesicle formation and has explored the interplay between endocytosis, cell shape, and pathogenicity in Candida albicans. She has also contributed to initiatives promoting equality and diversity in science, including involvement with the Athena SWAN program.
Awards and honors
In 2002, Ayscough was awarded the President’s Medal of the Society for Experimental Biology in recognition of her contributions to cell biology.
Selected publications
Ayscough’s publications include studies on actin filament turnover in budding yeast, the role of actin in cell polarity, and the molecular mechanisms of endocytosis. (Full bibliography available through academic databases.)