Two major current interests of our lab are derived from this work. The first is the study of a calmodulin-related protein, centrin. This little-understood contractility is involved in movements within all eukaryotic cells, from positioning centrioles for mitosis to the dramatic contraction of the stalks of certain ciliates, such as Vorticella . We are studying the nature of centrin and its associated proteins in an effort to understand the structures it forms and its involvement in motility. A Naegleria agent induces in vertebrate cells a unique mode of cell death called apoptosis.
Apoptosis is crucial in development and throughout life.
The Naegleria agent, a small protein, is not toxic to vertebrate cells and does not affect their growth, but causes them to die in a delayed fashion after the cells exit the cell cycle. We wish to define this agent, to understand how it produces delayed apoptosis, and then to explore possible therapeutic uses. A research partner for cell and developmental biology. Fulton, C., Lai, E.Y. and Remillard. A flagellar calmodulin gene of Naegleria , coexpressed during differentiation with flagellar tubulin genes, shares DNA, RNA, and encoded protein sequence elements.