Unraveling the molecular details of how nuclear pore complexes transport materials between the nucleus and cytoplasm, and control the flow of genetic information.

We study nuclear pore complexes (NPCs), which provide the only known sites for nucleocytoplasmic exchange and are also involved in key steps of genetic regulation.

Using a variety of techniques and yeast as a model system, we are determining the composition and fine structure of the NPC and relating this to its sites of interactions and reactions with soluble nuclear transport factors. We are also examining associations between NPCs and other components of the nuclear periphery. We hope to gain a better understanding of the part the NPC plays in nuclear regulation and maintenance.

We have leveraged techniques developed during these investigations into general tools and reagents for interactomic investigations of cellular systems. Though our collaborative center, the National Center for Dynamic Interactome Research, we train and disseminate these techniques to the biomedical community.