Our research goals are to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of membrane protein biogenesis, folding and assembly in eukaryotic cells. Some of the fundamental questions that we attempt to answer are:
1. How does the translocation machinery recognize and sort transmembrane segments into the membrane?
2. Which part(s)/subunit(s) of the translocation machinery mediates recognition and insertion of transmembrane segments?
3. How similar or different the molecular mechanism of membrane protein insertion is in different subcellular organelles?
We use Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism, and yeast genetics, molecular and cell biology techniques.