The CDB Center Faculty is a group of individuals pursuing information in a common area of science: how the cell operates as an individual entity and how cells interact with their environments, eventually coming together with other cells to develop into an organism.

Read below to learn more about the research of each CDB Center faculty member.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

The Allada lab studies endogenous circadian clocks in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster
that drive a vast repertoire of biochemical, physiological, and behavioral rhythms, such as cell division, body temperature, and sleep.

Lab website | Interdepartmental Biological Sciences Program Page | Publications

Our laboratory's long term goal is to understand how individual cells control their shapes and coordinate with other cells to create the complex organs found in multicellular organisms. To this end, we are using genetic, molecular and cell biological approaches to identify and study genes required for the morphogenesis of the Drosophila tracheal system.

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The arrangement of DNA within the nucleus is not random. During interphase, chromosomes assume stereotypical arrangements. The high degree of spatial organization of DNA has long suggested that there may be a functional significance to how chromosomes are arranged. We are interested in understanding how chromosomes are spatially organized within the nucleus, how this is regulated, and how DNA localization within the nucleus affects the transcriptional state of genes. We have found that certain genes, when activated, undergo regulated recruitment from the nucleoplasm to the nuclear membrane. Our work focuses on nuclear membrane recruitment of the INO1 gene, which encodes an enzyme involved in phospholipid biosynthesis, in yeast. Relocalization is controlled genetically by the same factors that control its transcription. Artificially tethering the INO1 gene to the nuclear membrane bypasses the requirement for certain factors in activating transcription. This suggests that proximity to the nuclear membrane is important for achieving activation. This dynamic, regulated association of a gene with the nuclear membrane in a manner that promotes its transcriptional activation offers exciting opportunities to understand the mechanisms by which DNA localization is utilized to regulate transcription, how DNA localization is controlled and how direct nuclear membrane-to-DNA signaling might occur.

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We study the mechanisms that govern morphogenesis, the generation of biological form, using our favorite model system for the developing skeleton, the chick forelimb or wing.

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We study the mechanisms that control protein sorting in polarized epithelial cells. Specifically, we investigate the epithelial cell specific clathrin-adaptor complex AP-1B. AP-1B directly interacts with proteins that are targeted to the basolateral domain and mediates their delivery from the trans-Golgi network to the basolateral membrane in clathrin-coated vesicles.

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We investigate signaling through the molecular chaperone known as the Hsp90 in the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

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We study the role of monoubiquitin and ubiquitin-binding proteins in the regulation of basic cell biological processes. Specifically, we use the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to investigate the multiple functions of ubiquitination in regulating the endocytosis and sorting of activated signaling receptors.

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We study the process of pattern formation during animal development. Our recent work has focused on the Hedgehog (Hh) signal transduction pathway and its role in the patterning of Drosophila segments and appendages.

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Our research focuses on the cellular responses to virus infection and cancer, focusing on cytokine induced transcription in the cellular innate immune response.

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We study the cellular and molecular events underlying the formation, migration and differentiation of neural crest cells, using the Xenopus laevis model system.

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We are investigating the molecular structure and the mechanism of replication of two enveloped RNA viruses: influenza virus and the paramyxovirus SV5.

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To be active most proteins must fold into well-defined three-dimensional structures. However, regulated unfolding is also critically important during the life cycle of many proteins, including proteins that are translocated across membranes and proteins that are degraded by ATP-dependent proteases. The Matouschek laboratory studies the mechanism by which proteins are unfolded by translocases and proteases.

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Hormones act as chemical messengers to control cell proliferation and differentiation during development and to maintain cellular homeostatis in the adult. The Mayo laboratory is investigating how specific hormones and their receptors modulate critical physiological processes such as growth and reproduction in mammalian organisms.

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We study molecular chaperones and their interactions within mis-folded substrates. Protein mis-folding, as occurs with polyglutamine expansions, is proposed as the causative agent of Huntington's Disease. Many of our experiments are carried out in the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans.

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The O'Halloran laboratory is exploring the cell and molecular biology of transition elements. One of our approaches is to isolate novel receptors and characterize their function, structure and chemical mechanism. In other strategies, we are interrogating the vesicular trafficking of these elements by developing vital fluorescent probes that are specific for metal ions such as Zn(II). Together, these types of experiments are delineating elemental aspects of microbial and mammalian biology.

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RNA molecules are essential participants in many aspects of cellular function. We aim to understand the mechanisms of RNA-mediated steps during eukaryotic gene expression. The research in the Sontheimer laboratory is focused on two critically important pathways: pre-mRNA splicing and RNA silencing.

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We are interested in understanding the molecular basis for the precision and complexity of neuronal circuitry in the brain. Our present work is focused on a large family of newly identified cell adhesion molecules, protocadherins, for which we have generated multiple genetically modified protocadherins mouse models.

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We are interested in understanding how protein kinase signaling pathways coordinate cytoskeleton organization, membrane traffic, and gene expression to define cell architecture. We are using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to determine the physiological functions and phosphorylation targets of highly conserved kinases that control important aspects of cell morphology.

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