Existential issues: control of organelle identity by a lipid switch

Elina Ikonen is a professor of cell and developmental biology at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Helsinki. Her so-called “Lipid-raft-hypothesis” has equally excited and frustrated cell biologists since its proposal three decades ago. Elina’s research group has made significant scientific breakthroughs in lipid trafficking research which in-part helped resolving the controversies surrounding the lipid-rafts. Her recent research interests include studying the underlying mechanisms of lipid storage diseases, development of imaging tools to visualize lipids and profiling lipid-protein interactions in cells. At EPFL, Elina will talk about how organelle identity is established in cells and how lipids contribute towards this process.