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Profile

Maureen Powers PhD

  • Department of Cell Biology
    Associate Professor
  • Emory University School of Medicine
    Department of Cell Biology
    615 Michael Street, Whitehead Building, Room 445
Head shot of Maureen Powers

Overview

Research Focus
The research interests of my laboratory center on the function of the Nuclear Pore Complex (NPC) and its component proteins, the nucleoporins (Nups). The NPC is responsible for movement of proteins and RNAs between nucleus and the cytoplasm, a fundamental activity of the eukaryotic cell. This process is mediated by the NPC along with an extensive series of cargo receptors, the alpha and beta karyopherin families. Our long term goal is to understand how NPC function is regulated and tightly integrated with other cellular processes including nuclear organization, cell division and transcription.

We have largely, but not exclusively, focused on the unique nucleoporin, Nup98, which plays key roles both on and off the NPC. We showed that Nup98 moves dynamically between the NPC and the nucleoplasm and its mobility is linked to ongoing transcription. At the NPC, Nup98 is located at the center of the structure and plays roles in trafficking and, we propose, in the exclusion of non-nuclear proteins from the nucleus the permeability barrier of the pore. More recently, Nup98 was shown to regulate transcription of a subset of genes in Drosophila. We are particularly interested in the mechanism of such regulation in vertebrate cells and the interaction of Nup98 with chromatin. We expect to extend this in the future to the interaction between other nucleoporins and chromatin.

The NPC is remarkably integrated with other key nuclear functions, in particular with mitosis. We have shown that Nup98 regulates microtubule dynamics within the mitotic spindle through an affect on the microtubule depolymerizing kinesin, MCAK. We have also shown that this influence is regulated in part by mitotic phosphorylation of Nup98.

Academic Appointment

  • Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine

Research

Publications

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