About
Our laboratory is focused on understanding the dynamics of intracellular motility. The active transport of membrane-bound organelles such as mitochondria along the cytoskeleton is essential in most eukaryotic cells, but is especially important in neurons. We explore the molecular mechanisms that lead to the coordinated activity of molecular motors during long-distance transport. That is, Holzbaur studies transport deficits in the context of human diseases including ALS, Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
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Bio
Erika L F. Holzbaur is an American biologist who is the William Maul Measey Professor of Physiology at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Her research considers the dynamics of organelle motility along cytoskeleton of cells. She is particularly interested in the molecular mechanisms that underpin neurodegenerative diseases. Holzbaur’s research considers the dynamics of organelle motility along cytoskeleton of cells. She was appointed to the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. Holzbaur studies various motor proteins, including dyneins, myosins and kinesins. In the axons of neurons, these motor proteins are responsible for the transport of organelles over extraordinarily long distances. She found that targeted disruption of the dynein-dynctin interaction can result in the degeneration of motor neurons.
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Website: https://www.med.upenn.edu/physiol/facult/erika-holzbaur-ph-d