We are a group of cellular neurobiologists interested in the process of microtubule-based, organelle transport. By analogy, we study the equivalent of transportation modes used by people and goods. For example, cities rely on efficient railways to transport items from the source of manufacture to the point of sale. Similarly, cells must move building blocks, e.g., protein, lipids, to their sites of usage. The process occurs via motor proteins (trains) that travel along microtubules (railroad tracks) to carry vesicles (cargo) through the interior of the cell. An entertaining and informative video of the process produced by the Hoogenraad Lab can be see here.
Transportation systems are essential for the normal of development and function of all cell types, but particularly in nerve cells due to their very large sizes. Moreover, transport defects are early pathological manifestations of several neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s disease. Mutations in transport-related proteins are also causal in neurodevelopmental disorders such as hereditary spastic paraplegias and autism.
The goal of our lab is to understand the basic mechanisms of intracellular transport to help inform the cellular etiology of “transportopathies.”
