Exploration of novel cellular processes in phagocytes.

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Phagocytes are cells named for their ability to engulf or "eat" particulate material via the process of phagocytosis. They function in a diverse array of essential tasks throughout the body, operating at the frontlines to protect the body against invading microbes and also performing numerous housekeeping functions that are necessary for normal growth and maintenance of life. The phagosome is a sac-like organelle that is formed within the phagocyte following phagocytosis, which is charged with the task of digesting the engulfed material appropriately. In primitive phagocytes, such as the amoeba, this organelle serves as the "stomach" of the cell and acts to efficiently and completely digest its contents for its own nutrition. In phagocytes of higher order organisms, however, the phagosome can be charged to perform a multitude of precise functions, which not only serve to keep the phagocyte healthy but to also support surrounding cells and the animal as a whole. While much research has been dedicated to studying the phagosome in the first hour after its creation, very little work has been performed that investigates the older phagosome (termed “mature phagolysosome”). This is in part due to the technical difficulty in studying these older organelles but also due the field’s assumption that they are dormant and uninteresting.