Anthony P. Bretscher is a cell biologist and is currently serving as the associate director of the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology

Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology

Founded in 2007, the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology is a collaborative, non-profit research institution located on Cornell University's campus in Ithaca, New York. The Weill Institute eventually will consist of twelve faculty-led teams, appointed in several life...

 at Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

. He is also a professor of cell biology in the Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics at the College of Arts and Sciences

Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences is a division of Cornell University. It has been part of the university since its founding, although its name has changed over time. It grants bachelors degrees, and masters and doctorates through affiliation with the Cornell University Graduate School...

 at Cornell.

After training as a physicist at the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, Dr. Bretscher earned his Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Leeds

University of Leeds

The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...

. From there, he was a European Molecular Biology Organization

European Molecular Biology Organization

EMBO stands for excellence in the life sciences. The EMBO mission is to enable the best science by supporting talented researchers, stimulating scientific exchange and advancing policies for a world-class European research environment....

 (EMBO) Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

. He then went as a Max Planck Society Fellow to the Department of Biochemistry in the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry

Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry

The Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen is a research institute of the Max Planck Society. Currently, 812 people work at the Institute, 353 of them are scientists....

 in Göttingen

Göttingen

Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 to work with Klaus Weber

Klaus Weber

Klaus Weber is a German scientist who has made many fundamentally important contributions to Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Molecular Biology, and was for many years the director of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen,...

. In 1980, he was appointed to the faculty in the Cell Biology Department at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He relocated to Cornell in 1981.

The Bretscher lab studies how microfilaments contribute to cell organization and polarity

Chemical polarity

In chemistry, polarity refers to a separation of electric charge leading to a molecule or its chemical groups having an electric dipole or multipole moment. Polar molecules interact through dipole–dipole intermolecular forces and hydrogen bonds. Molecular polarity is dependent on the difference in...

, including their involvement in membrane trafficking and cell signaling

Cell signaling

Cell signaling is part of a complex system of communication that governs basic cellular activities and coordinates cell actions. The ability of cells to perceive and correctly respond to their microenvironment is the basis of development, tissue repair, and immunity as well as normal tissue...

pathways.