Cell scientist to watch – Tom MacVicar

ABSTRACT Tom MacVicar is a Group Leader at the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Scotland Institute in Glasgow. Tom earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Bristol, where he also completed his PhD with Jon Lane on mitophagy, the selective autophagic degradation of mitochondria. Tom then moved to the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Aging in Cologne, Germany, to join Thomas Langer's lab as a postdoc, researching the interplay between mitochondrial proteases and metabolic plasticity under external stress. There, he became motivated to understand mitochondrial metabolic vulnerabilities in cancer, in which tumour cells and their surrounding environment undergo metabolic rewiring to cope with stressors like reduced nutrient availability and hypoxia. In December 2021, he started his lab at the CRUK Scotland Institute, focusing on the roles of mitochondrial metabolite transporters in tumour metabolism, with the ultimate aim of identifying novel therapeutic strategies to treat cancer. For our Special Issue on Cell Biology of Mitochondria, we spoke with Tom over Zoom about his career path, advice on establishing research independence, and why it's an exciting time to be mitochondrial biologist.