Sean Munro is currently the group leader in the Division of Cell Biology at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. He studies the secretory pathways that cells use to transport their internal cargo of proteins and nutrients, packaged as tiny vesicles, between specific organelles or on to other cells. In particular, he focuses on how the Golgi apparatus — the ‘post office’ of the cell — receives and recognises these parcels, then delivers them to their correct destination.

Sean work, which uses mammalian and yeast cells, has identified several mechanisms by which organelle-specific proteins target these cellular cargoes to their destination. Sean’s recent work has also identified a variety of coiled, protein-based tentacles in the Golgi that selectively capture incoming vesicles from different points of origin in the cell.