Research

Cellular and Molecular Anatomy of Cilia

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Eukaryotic cilia are microtubule-based organelles that project from the cell surface to drive motility, signaling, and sensing. Nearly all vertebrate cells are ciliated, bearing a primary cilium, and, in specialized epithelia, are multiciliated, containing tens to hundreds of motile cilia for coordinated flow. The same cilia that cover vertebrate cells are structurally remarkably similar to those of unicellular organisms spanning eukaryotic clades, suggesting the last eukaryotic common ancestor bore a cilium. The conservation across evolution offers an opportunity to use structural cell biology to understand the similarity and nuances between species and develop general principles that exist across evolution.

The Cellular and Molecular Anatomy of Cilia lab will focus on understanding the cellular structural biology and dynamics of cilia. We will use a combination of in situ structural biology techniques in several model systems to address questions regarding how cells build and maintain cilia, the evolution of ciliary dynamics, ciliary adaptation, intracellular ciliary heterogeneity, and how all of these themes tie into our understanding of ciliopathies.

In situ structural cell biology

Integration of multimodal data

Evolution of ciliary dynamics & heterogeneity

Publications