Bill Saxton, Dept. MCD Biology

The Saxton lab studies mechanisms that drive intracellular transport and cytoplasmic organization, using Drosophila as a model system. To generate and maintain proper cytoplasmic order and complex functions, cells use microtubules and force-generating motor proteins to transport RNAs, proteins, and organelles to specific cytoplasmic destinations. Neurons are especially dependent on filament-based cytoplasmic transport, because their signaling functions rely on long cytoplasmic extensions (axons and dendrites) that require highly ordered components that are synthesized near the nucleus. Saxton's group has developed methods for high-speed confocal fluorescence microscopy and digital tracking of single axonal organelles in living Drosophila, and use classical genetics and molecular approaches to manipulate suspected components of transport machinery and watch the effects on organelle motion. Biochemical approaches are also used to test specific ideas about how those components work. A number of human neurodegenerative diseases, such as ALS, are caused by mutations in genes that code for axonal transport motors and other cytoskeleton associated proteins.