Reinhold Lecture

Meredith Morris: Setting Up House, Adventures in Organelle Biochemistry

April 13, 7 p.m., Science Lecture Hall (Science Center 256)

Compartmentalization of processes into organelles is a fundamental aspect of eukaryotic cells. It enables cells to establish microenvironments that are optimized for specific reactions and pathways without influencing other pathways. We are interested in understanding organelle dynamics, and we use organelles called glycosomes in the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, as a model. Glycosomes harbor many essential biological pathways. The extent to which these pathways are localized together in the same organelles or separated into discrete populations is unknown. We are focused on several aspects of glycosome dynamics. How are glycosomes formed? How are proteins targeted to glycosomes? We know that glycosomes are heterogeneous and we are working to resolve the basis of this heterogeneity and how distinct populations are established and maintained. To address these challenging questions, we are developing technologies that enable the real-time study of organelles in living cells. We anticipate our work will identify novel mechanisms that regulate organelle biology and may provide leads to identifying new drug targets in these organisms.

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