Regulation of a nucleoside transport protein, ENT1

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My research program studies transporters, which are a class of proteins, that, as their name suggests, transport molecules and compounds. Cells are dynamic and, like factories, they need to have certain supplies shipped in to support the work going on. They also need to ship out the products that have been generated within the cell or waste products. The cell membrane that surrounds the cell is a barrier to many molecules that are needed in cells or that need to get out of cells. So cell membranes contain portals or gateways that sit in the cell membrane and allow the movement of certain molecules or compounds into and/or out of cells. These portals or gateways are known as transporters and we work on one group of them, known as nucleoside transporters, because they transport molecules known as nucleosides. Nucleosides are important to cells because they are needed for making DNA and other cellular elements. Some nucleosides are also released by cells and act as local signals by interacting with receptors on neighboring cells. Nucleosides can only get in and out of cells through nucleoside transporters. Nucleoside transporters were only identified at the molecular level (cloned) about a decade ago so we still don't know much about what they look like (in terms of their three-dimensional structure) or how they work. We also don't know what their life cycle within the cell looks like or how they are regulated by other proteins. We use a variety of biochemical and molecular techniques to study different aspects of the structure and function of these proteins so that we can better understand what role they play, and how they contribute to the healthy everyday lives of busy cells.