Cell Biology

Stress is a part of life, even on the cellular level. To survive and adapt to stresses such as nutrient deprivation or temperature shock, cells have to alter gene expression, especially protein translation, and alterations in these responses have been implicated in multiple human pathologies,…

Our research concerns the mechanism and consequences of Ty1 retrotransposition in the budding yeast Saccharomyces. The Ty1 life cycle resembles that of retroviruses except transposition is not infectious. Ty1 GAG and POL genes encode the structural and enzymatic proteins required for…

Short Biography:

Dr. Haltiwanger received his B.S. in Biology (1980) and Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1986) from Duke University. He went on to do postdoctoral work at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and took his first independent position as an Assistant Professor in the…

We are studying how nutrients regulate signaling and transcription by O-GlcNAcylation (OGN). OGN is the addition and removal of N-acetylglucosamine from Ser(The) residues of nuclear, cytoplasmic and mitochondrial proteins. The cycling sugar is analogous to phosphorylation and has extensive…

The work in my laboratory deals with the biosynthesis of heme and it regulation. Heme is an essential cofactor for almost all living organisms and participates in a variety of reactions including the regulation central metabolic processes, oxygen binding and transport and reduction/oxidation…

Research in the Moremen lab focuses on the structure, regulation, and localization of enzymes involved in the biosynthesis, recognition, and catabolism of mammalian glycoproteins. Carbohydrate structures on glycoproteins contribute to many biological recognition events during development,…

Antigenic variation in African trypanosomes

Among the parasites we currently study in the laboratory are African trypanosomes, unicellular eukaryotic protozoa that infect the bloodstream of mammals to cause sleeping sickness in equatorial Africa. Trypanosomiasis continues to be a daily…

We are using biochemical, cell biological, genetic, and molecular approaches in conjunction with the yeast system to better understand the function of enzymes involved in the production of isoprenylated proteins. Examples of isoprenylated proteins include the Ras family of oncoproteins, Ras-…

We study CRISPR-Cas immune systems that protect prokaryotes from viruses and provide research tools for important biotechnology and biomedical applications

CRISPR-Cas systems are recently discovered RNA-based adaptive immune systems that control invasions of viruses and other mobile…

Glycosylation plays a variety of roles in basic biological processes, and alterations in these carbohydrate structures contribute to many human diseases. The mammalian glycome contains extensive structural and functional heterogeneity that can vary temporally and spatially during development and…

My lab studies the relationship between protein structure and function, and specifically how enzyme activity is regulated. To do this, we use a combination of techniques, including X-ray crystallography, transient and steady state kinetic, sedimentation velocity and other biophysical tools.…

We study stem cells in skeletal muscle and adipose (fat) tissues and develop therapeutics for muscular dystrophy, muscle atrophy, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. We use transgenic mice and cultured human cells to model human diseases and identify therapeutic agents/approaches.

We are using human pluripotent stem cells (human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)) to differentiate cell types that are affected in diseases of the peripheral nervous system (PNS). Because primary patient PNS cells in large numbers are nearly…