,
Ph.D.
Office:
Research Areas
Membrane biochemistry and biophysics
Current Interests
"Our focus is on the role of membranes in immunologic recognition processes. Specifically, we would like to understand how the humoral immune system, that is antibody and complement, recognizes foreign pathogens and malignant cells, and kills such cells without affecting the host's own cells. Currently we are investigating the interaction of the C9, the protein essential for cell killing, with natural and model membranes. Modern analytical techniques, such as fluorescence and EPR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry, are used to monitor structural transitions in the protein and the membrane. We feel that understanding complement-mediated cell damage will require a knowledge of the mechanisms by which the water-soluble complement proteins are converted into integral membrane proteins. Knowledge gained from such studies on model systems is then used to investigate processes that are biologically more relevant. For example, we are currently studying the resistance of virulent Gram-negative bacteria to complement killing and specifically the processes that are required for transport of C9 from the bacterial outer membrane, across the periplasmic space to the inner membrane where killing occurs. Modified C9 prepared by recombinant DNA techniques and expressed in insect cells using baculovirus transfer vectors is used in such studies. "
Research Support
This work is supported by the National Institutes of Health.
