The role of snare-mediated membrane traffic in cell adhesion

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Cell adhesion is a complex process that plays a fundamental role in the growth and differentiation of cells in multicellular organisms.   In particular, cell adhesion has profound influence over the survival of dells within tissues and organs and can also significantly impact many pathological conditions.  Cell adhesion is the process by which cells attach and spread on protein-based structures outside the cell (the extracellular matrix).  Such interactions affect cell shape, intracellular structures and biochemical reactions and gene expression.  The long-term goals of my research are to examine the intracellular, molecular machinery that specifically regulates cell adhesion.  In doing this, I intend to establish a research program that will contribute to the basic understanding of these biological functions within cells.Within the long-term goals of my research program, the research proposed in this application contains three specific aims: 1) to define the role that restructuring of cell membranes plays in the processes of cell adhesion; 2) to analyse proteins which function to regulate the membrane restructuring that is involved in cell adhesion and 3) identify cellular regulators of these activities.  I plan to examine the functions of proteins that control cell adhesion, proteins that regulate the restructuring of cell membranes and proteins that regulate the cell's internal "skeleton" (the actin cytoskeleton).  I expect to uncover how proteins with these diverse functions work together within cells to control cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix and ultimately affect cell behaviour.  This research will involve the use of cultured cell types, modern biological techniques to perform experiments on living cells, high-resolution microscopy and biochemical analyses. Collectively, these approaches will allow the direct examination of protein function during cell adhesion and will yield results that hold wide significance in the disciplines of cell biology and biochemistry.