Vesicle dynamics (invited resubmission)

The programme will exploit techniques developed for use in astronomy but will apply them to measurements in live-cell biology. In particular, we will apply a technique developed to measure atmopherically-induced distortion of telescope images to the study of secretion processes in biology. Malfunction of these processes is poorly understood but contributes to about 9% of fatalities in the developed world, diabetes alone contributes to ~5% of deaths in the UK (British Heart Foundation Statistics). This project represents a collaboration between biologists, physicists and mathematicians and aims to monitor the dynamics of secretion with high precision. The study of these dynamics will improve our understanding of diseases such as epilepsy, diabetes, heart disease and asthma. This study will also allow us to assess the longer-term potential for applying astronomy-derived techniques for molecular biology research.