Our primary goal is to use molecular approaches to study the regulation of intracellular iron homeostasis in the African trypanosome, Trypanosoma brucei
Ongoing Projects
Project I: Post-transcriptional regulators
Virtually nothing is known about the post-transcriptional regulatory processes that maintain intracellular iron homeostasis. We will perform genetic screens coupled with next generation sequencing to discover these new trypanosome-specific iron-responsive factors. We are currently tackling a few factors in this pathway
Project II: Post-translational regulators
We hypothesize that novel iron-signaling effectors exist at the post-translational level that control iron uptake. We will use a proteomics approach to discover new iron-responsive sensors and signal effectors in trypanosomes. We have identified a phosphatase that may act as the iron-sensor and are currently studying its function
Project III: Mapping the iron-regulatory network
This project systematically integrates projects I and II. Here we are performing functional studies to provide mechanistic insights into the specifics of protein-RNA, protein-protein and protein-DNA complex interactions that may regulate intracellular iron levels.
Our Research is funded by The Wellcome Trust and The Royal Society