Members of the Pennsylvania Muscle Institute are using and developing state-of-the-art techniques to understand the molecular events required for the regulation of cell migration and intracellular transport.

Members of the PMI are investigating the mechanisms by which cells migrate and power intracellular transport.  Cell migration and intracellular transport are complex cellular processes that require a dynamic cytoskeleton (actin, microtubules, intermediate filaments) and molecular motors (myosin, kinesin, and dynein). Cell migration includes whole-cell locomotion and the regulation of the cell shape and extracellular attachment in tissues and organisms. The ability of a cell to move and change shape is crucial for several normal and pathological processes, including: cell and tissue development, wound healing, immune response, and metastases of tumors.

Intracellular transport is the movement and targeting of vesicles and proteins to specific cellular regions. This transport includes directed and long distance movements of organelles, as found in neuronal axons, and it includes very short distance movements, as found during membrane trafficking.

Investigating Members:

• Erfei Bi, Ph.D.

• Wei Guo, Ph.D.

• Erika L. F. Holzbaur, Ph.D.

• Paul A. Janmey, Ph.D.

• Francis Luca, Ph.D.

• Vivianne T. Nachmias, Ph.D.

• E. Michael Ostap, Ph.D.

• Daniel Safer, Ph.D.

• Henry Shuman, Ph.D.

• H. Lee Sweeney, Ph.D.

• John W. Weisel, Ph.D.

• Tim J. Yen, Ph.D.