Research Overview

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a large interconnected membrane network that extends throughout the cytoplasm of all animal cells. It is a vital organelle that carries out essential cellular processes including protein and lipid biosynthesis, vesicle trafficking, drug detoxification and Ca⁺² homeostasis. To accomplish all these tasks, the ER is subdivided into distinct morphological sub-domains, each of which specializes in a subset of ER functions. The goal of our lab is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that shape and organize this beautiful membrane network. We use molecular, cellular, biochemical and biophysical assays to probe the structure function relationship of a variety of ER shaping proteins.