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The Merz Laboratory is interested in subcellular organization and dynamics, with an emphasis on the membrane dynamics of organelles such as endosomes and lysosomes. The lab currently includes of four postdoctoral fellows, two graduate students, a research associate, and undergraduates. You can meet some of them on the People page. We employ a wide range of contemporary and classical approaches including yeast genetics, high-throughput screening, in vitro reconstitution, fluorescence spectroscopy, quasielastic light scattering, and high-sensitivity light and electron microscopy. Current projects include fundamental studies of SNARE-mediated membrane fusion, dissection of AP-3 mediated transport from the Golgi to the lysosome, and studies of the relationship between cellular metabolism and lysosomal physiology. For more information, check out the Research and Papers pages.
December, 2011
- Shing-Yeng (Margaret) Lo’s new paper has just been published in NSMB. In this study [PDF w/supplement] we show that certain Rab small G proteins have an unexpected intrinsic ability to tether vesicles. This tethering occurs independently of the established ability of these Rabs to operate in concert with more conventional effector proteins, and it establishes powerful assays with broad utility for studies of other tethering factors and mechanisms.
February, 2011
- Congratulations to Chemistry graduate student Margaret Lo for successfully defending her dissertation on Rab-mediated tethering!
November, 2010
- We welcome Postdoctoral Fellow Hannah Chapin to the laboratory!
- Matt Schwartz has successfully defended his dissertation on the mechanisms of SNARE-mediated membrane fusion.
August, 2010
- Cortney Angers has successfully defended her dissertation on traffic through the yeast AP-3 pathway.
July, 2010
- Congratulations to postdoc Chris Brett! Chris has accepted a tenure-track position at Concordia University in Montreal, where he will be starting his own research group this fall.
- Grad student Cortney Angers and the boss wrote a comprehensive review article on interactions between vesicle coats and tethering factors. It’s in press at Seminars in Cell and Devleopmental Biology [download PDF]. Cortney’s thesis defense is scheduled for early August, and then she’s off to a life in the private sector.
November, 2009
- Grad student Cortney Angers publishes her new paper on the dynamics and interactions of the AP-3 coat complex and the HOPS vesicle tethering complex.
October, 2009
- Postdoc Dan Nickerson is awarded an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship. Congratulations, Dan!
- The boss (Alex) is awarded an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant, which will help to fund our work on endocytic traffic control by Vps-C protein complexes.
September, 2009
- Grad student Margaret Lo wins a second year of NSF-IGERT funding for her work on vesicle tethering mechanisms.
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