Dr. Itay Budin

Seminar Details

Host: Dr. Vishal Gohil

Time: 4:00pm-5:00pm

Location: BICH 108

Seminar Abstract

Our lab investigates how – and why – cells control the composition of their lipid membranes. In this talk, I will focus on our efforts to uncover how lipid composition is controlled in intracellular membranes and describe emerging biophysical models to explain its chemical diversity in cells. I will first highlight recent studies that demonstrate how surprisingly small chemical changes to lipid chemical structures drive membrane function. In one, we found that chemical remodeling of sterols during their biosynthesis shapes these molecules’ capacity to organize membranes. In the other, we uncovered how the shape of phospholipids – described by their spontaneous curvature – is a biophysical parameter that is actively maintained by cellular metabolism. I will then focus on new chemical biology approaches we have developed to map phospholipids in cell membranes and determine factors that control their trafficking. A key advance has been the use of fluorogenic dyes in biorthogonal labeling reactions to enable compartment– and leaflet-specific detection of phospholipid pools. These tools allow cell biologists to interrogate lipid trafficking at ever-greater spatial detail.