Cell Biology
BIO361
Fall 2025

R144.6 is a C. elegans protein that was recently identified in a proteomics screen for lysosome-enriched proteins (Yu et al 2024 eLife e85214).  Despite this protein being highly conserved across animals (including in humans) its function is unknown.  During the fall of 2025, students in BIO361 will investigate whether mutations in R144.6 disrupt endolysosome formation and function.  The figure above is from Figure 8I in Yu et al 2024 eLife e85214.  

Welcome to the field of biology that aims to understand the structure and function of the fundamental unit of life - the cell. In this course our study of cells will consider five major unanswered questions in the field: (1) How are organelles made? (2) How do cells move? (3) How do organisms control their cell number? (4) How do cells communicate? (5) What mechanisms cause cancer? In considering our current answers to these questions we will integrate microscopy, biochemical, genetic, molecular, and systems biology approaches to the study of cells. We will discuss some of the hypotheses, experiments, and results that have led to our current (and only partially complete) answers to these questions. We will read and discuss primary literature articles that investigate how pathogens co-opt normal cellular processes. We will explore and discuss the relationships between cell biology and society.  Our own studies of cell biology will focus on understanding how  lysosome-related organelles are constructed in the model organism C. elegans.