Identifying cellular pathways and machinery required constitutive secretion using functional genomics

Supervisor: Dr Andrew Peden (BMS and CMIAD)

Application deadline: Friday 14 December 2012.

Constitutive secretion is required for many biologically important processes, such as inflammation (cytokine secretion), adaptive immunity (IgG secretion) and tissue remodelling (extracellular matrix secretion). Perturbations in the secretion of these factors can cause disease. Very little is known about the post-Golgi machinery required for the secretion of these proteins.

To identify this machinery my laboratory has taken a functional genomics approach and developed novel assays for measuring constitutive secretion and combined them with targeted RNAi screens. The aim of this project is to identify new machinery required for post-Golgi trafficking and secretion. To achieve this a genome wide siRNA screen will be performed using a Drosophila based secretion system we have developed. The screen will be performed in collaboration with Sheffield’s world-class RNAi screening facility and make use of their robotics and automated microscopy.

References

• Gordon D.E., Bond L.M., Sahlender D.A. and Peden A.A.
  A targeted siRNA screen to identify SNAREs required for constitutive secretion in mammalian cells
  2010 Traffic. 11, 1191-1204.
• Wendler F., Gillingham A.K., Sinka R., Franch-Marro X., Gordon D.E., Peden A.A., Vincent J.P and Munro S.
  A genome-wide RNA interference screen identifies novel components of the metazoan secretory pathway.
  2010 EMBO J. 29, 304-14.

Contact details:

Dr Andrew Peden

Email: a.peden@sheffield.ac.uk

Web: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/bms/research/peden/