Wehman Lab

Membrane Dynamics

Throughout life, cells communicate to coordinate the organism’s response to different stimuli. Cells release extracellular vesicles that carry signals to alter development, health, or disease. Released vesicles can also seal cell membranes after damage or remodel the cell contents. After their relese, extracellular vesicles and other cellular debris need to be cleared from the environment and degraded intracellularly for normal physiology and to avoid an autoimmune response. The goal of our research is to discover how vesicles bud from the surface of cells, identify more functions of extracellular vesicles in animals, and determine how cells take up and process extracellular vesicles and other cellular debris. We are especially interested in the role of lipid asymmetry during these dynamic events. Defining how vesicles form is an essential first step to designing strategies to induce or suppress their formation and thereby determine their functional roles. This research could lead to new strategies to monitor or influence disease severity from cancer to inflammation and beyond.