Lamins and their associated proteins in health and disease The roles of the nuclear lamina in development and aging The role of the nuclear envelope in apoptosis Molecular and genetic analysis of matefin/SUN-1 The sensing and responding to high CO2 levels.

The nuclear and cytoplasmic compartments of eukaryotic cells are separated by the nuclear envelope. The nuclear envelope consists of an inner and outer nuclear membranes, nuclear pore complexes and an underlying nuclear lamina. The nuclear lamina is a network of lamin polymers and lamin-binding proteins embedded in the inner nuclear membrane. In the nuclear interior, lamins also form stable complexes. It is increasingly clear that lamins support a broad range of functions through interactions with multiple proteins that function in diverse cellular processes. Mutations in lamins and lamin-binding proteins cause a wide range of heritable or sporadic human diseases, collectively termed laminopathies ranging from muscular dystrophy to accelerated aging. Our research is concentrating on understanding the structure and functions of the nuclear lamina and why mutations in nuclear lamina proteins cause laminopathies. We use the C. elegans as our main model organism because it has a simple, but evolutionarily conserved composition of the nuclear lamina.