Message from the Director

Scott D. Emr
Scott D. Emr

Welcome to the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology at Cornell University. I am delighted to be the Institute’s first Director and am honored to be working with such an impressive team of researchers at Cornell--all of us sharing the goal of establishing a multidisciplinary Institute to study cell and molecular biology. The Weill Institute is part of Cornell University's bold New Life Sciences Initiative.

More...

News & Events

Scientists find clues to some inherited heart diseases
May 6, 2013
Cornell researchers have uncovered the basic cell biology that helps explain heart defects found in diseases known as laminopathies, a group of some 15 genetic disorders that include forms of muscular dystrophy and between 5 percent and 10 percent of all cases of inherited heart disease More...

Study: How Cells Form 'Trash Bags' for Recycling Waste
October 22, 2012
To remove waste from cells, a class of membrane-sculpting proteins create vesicles - molecular trash bags - that carry old and damaged proteins from the surface of cellular compartments into internal recycling plants where the waste is degraded and components are reused. More...

2 New Joint Faculty Searches Announced
October 1, 2012
The Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology in conjunction with the Departments of Molecular Biology & Genetics, and Chemistry & Chemical Biology is searching for tenure-track faculty members at the Assistant/Associate Professor level. More...

Emr Reappointed as Weill Institute Director
September 12, 2012
Scott Emr has been reappointed to a five-year term as director of the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, announced Robert Buhrman, Cornell's senior vice provost for research. More ...

Prof. Adrienne Roeder Studies Link Between Plant Cell Division and Identity
April 4, 2012
Prof. Adrienne Roeder, plant biology, is new to Cornell. She is continuing her postdoctoral work researching the role of cell division in the development of plant tissues. Roeder works in both the Department of Plant Biology and the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology. More...

New method connects proteins with mutations that lead to genetic disease
January 18, 2012
For the first time, a new computational method allows researchers to identify which specific molecular mechanisms are altered by genetic mutations in proteins that lead to disease.And they can apply this method to any genetic disease. More...

Weill Institute researchers discover a new role for cells' master regulator
November 23, 2011
TORC1 is a master regulator in cells, playing a key role in such diverse processes as gene expression and protein synthesis. While previous studies have described the role that TORC1 plays in these processes, a new Cornell study has discovered yet another process where the molecule is a central player. More...

Graduate student in Mao Lab wins in Science's 'Dance Your Ph.D.' contest
October 20, 2011
FoSheng Hsu, a graduate student in the field of biochemistry, molecular and cell biology and member of Yuxin Mao's lab, has won $500 for the best dance in the chemistry category in Science's fourth annual "Dance Your Ph.D." contest, a competition that recognizes the best dance interpretations of scientific doctoral work. More...

Study discovers that cell membranes play a vital role in gene expression
May 23, 2011
Although all cells in an organism have the same DNA, cells function differently based on the genes they express. While most studies of gene expression focus on activities in the cell's nucleus, a new Cornell study finds that processes outside the nucleus -- along the membrane -- also play important roles in gene expression. More..

 

News Archive

 

Institute Publications

Chin Yee Ho, Diana E. Jaalouk, Maria K. Vartiainen & Jan Lammerding. Lamin A/C and emerin regulate MKL1-SRF activity by modulating actin dynamics. Nature (2013) [Epub ahead of print]

Michael J. Meyer, Jishnu Das, Xiujuan Wang, Haiyuan Yu. INstruct: a database of high quality three-dimensional structurally resolved protein interactome networks. Bioinformatics (2013)

Yingying Zhao, Jason A. MacGurn, Max Liu, Scott D. Emr. The ART-Rsp5 ubiquitin ligase network comprises a plasma membrane quality control system that protects yeast cells from proteotoxic stress. eLife (2013)

Anthony Bretscher. Magazine or journal - what is the difference? The role of the monitoring editor. Molecular Biology of the Cell (2013)

Christopher J. Stefan, Andrew G. Manford, Scott D. Emr. ER-PM connections: sites of information transfer and inter-organelle communication. Current Opinion in Cell Biol. (2013)

Monika Zwerger, Diana E. Jaalouk, Maria L. Lombardi, Philipp Isermann, Monika Mauermann, George Dialynas, Harald Herrmann, Lori L. Wallrath, and Jan Lammerding. Myopathic lamin mutations impair nuclear stability in cells and tissue and disrupt nucleo-cytoskeletal coupling. Human Mol Genetics (2013)

Andrew G. Manford, Christopher J. Stefan, Helen L. Yuan, Jason A. MacGurn, Scott D. Emr. ER-to-plasma membrane tethering proteins regulate cell signaling and ER morphology. Developmental Cell (2012)

Owen A. Brady, Yanqiu Zheng, Kira Murphy, Marshall Huang, Fenghua Hu. The frontotemporal lobar degeneration risk factor, TMEM106B, regulates lysosomal morphology and function. Human Mol Genetics (2012)

Jishnu Das, Jaaved Mohammed and Haiyuan Yu. Genome-scale analysis of interaction dynamics reveals organization of biological networks. Bioinformatics (2012)

Jishnu Das and Haiyuan Yu. HINT: High-quality protein interactomes and their applications in understanding human disease. BMC Systems Biology (2012)

Jon E Paczkowski, Brian C Richardson, Amanda M Strassner and J Christopher Fromme. The exomer cargo adaptor structure reveals a novel GTPase-binding domain. EMBO (2012)

Wallace F Marshall, Kevin D Young, Matthew Swaffer, Elizabeth Wood, Paul Nurse, Akatsuki Kimura, Joseph Franke, John Wallingford, Virginia Walbot, Xian Qu and Adrienne H Roeder. What determines cell size? BMC Biology (2012)

Patrice Y. Ohouo and Marcus B. Smolka. The many roads to checkpoint activation. Cell Cycle (2012)

Raghuvir Viswanatha, Patrice Y. Ohouo, Marcus B. Smolka, and Anthony Bretscher. Local phosphocycling mediated by LOK/SLK restricts ezrin function to the apical aspect of epithelial cells. J. Cell Biol. (2012)

Patrice Ohouo, Yi Liu, Francisco M Bastos de Oliveira and Chu Jian "Frank" Ma and Marcus Smolka. DNA Repair Scaffolds Dampen Checkpoint Signaling by Counteracting the Rad9 Adaptor. Nature (2012)

Roeder AH, Cunha A, Ohno CK, Meyerowitz EM. Cell cycle regulates cell type in the Arabidopsis sepal. Development (2012)

Sungkwon Kang, Chae Un Kim, Xiaoling Gu, Roisin M. Owens, Sarah J. van Rijn, Vanissra Boonyaleepun, Yuxin Mao, Timothy A. Springer, Moonsoo M. Jin. Complex Structure of Engineered Modular Domains Defining Molecular Interaction between ICAM-1 and Integrin LFA-1. PLoS One (2012)

Marcus Smolka, Francisco M Bastos de Oliveira, Michael R Harris, and Robertus A M de Bruin. The checkpoint transcriptional response: Make sure to turn it off once you are satisfied. Cell Cycle (2012)

Roeder AH. When and where plant cells divide: a perspective from computational modeling. Current Opinion in Plant Biology (2012)

Roeder AH, Cunha A, Burl MC, Meyerowitz EM. A computational image analysis glossary for biologists. Development (2012)

Cunha A, Tarr PT, Roeder AH, Altinok A, Mjolsness E, Meyerowitz EM. Computational analysis of live cell images of the Arabidopsis thaliana plant. Methods in Cell Biology (2012)

Henne WM, Buchkovich N, Zhao Y, Emr S. The Endosomal Sorting Complex ESCRT-II Mediates the Assembly and Architecture of ESCRT-III Helice. Cell (2012)

Donovan K, Bretscher A. Myosin-V Is Activated by Binding Secretory Cargo and Released in Coordination with Rab/Exocyst Function. Dev. Cell (2012)

FoSheng Hsua,, Wenhan Zhud, Lucy Brennane, Lili Taod, Zhao-Qing Luod, Yuxin Mao. Structural basis for substrate recognition by a unique Legionella phosphoinositide phosphatase. PNAS (2012)

Garbett D, Bretscher A. PDZ interactions regulate rapid turnover of the scaffolding protein EBP50 in microvilli. J. Cell Biol. (2012)

Mi-Mi L, Votra SB, Kemphues K, Bretscher A, Pruyne D. Z-line formins promote contractile lattice growth and maintenance in striated muscles of C. elegans. J. Cell Biol. (2012)

Ling Y, Stefan CJ, Macgurn JA, Audhya A, Emr SD. The dual PH domain protein Opy1 functions as a sensor and modulator of PtdIns(4,5)P(2) synthesis. EMBO J. (2012)

Wood CS, Hung CS, Huoh YS, Mousley CJ, Stefan CJ, Bankaitis V, Ferguson KM, Burd CG. Local control of PtdIns4P signaling in the Golgi apparatus by Vps74 and Sac1 phosphoinositide phosphatase. Mol. Biol. Cell. (2012)

Richardson BC, McDonold CM, Fromme JC. The Sec7 Arf-GEF Is Recruited to the trans-Golgi Network by Positive Feedback. Dev. Cell. (2012)

Sher I, Hanemann O, Karplus AP, Bretscher AP. The Tumor Suppressor Merlin Controls Growth in Its Open State, and Phosphorylation Converts It to a Less-Active More-Closed State. Dev. Cell. (2012)

Blake-Hodek KA, Williams BC, Zhao Y, Castilho PV, Chen W, Mao Y, Yamamoto TM, Goldberg ML. Determinants for Activation of the Atypical AGC Kinase Greatwall during M Phase Entry. Mol Cell Biol. (2012)

Zhong S, Hsu F, Stefan CJ, Wu X, Patel A, Cosgrove MS, Mao Y. Allosteric activation of the phosphoinositide phosphatase Sac1 by anionic phospholipids. Biochemistry. (2012)

Nepusz T, Yu H, Paccanaro A. Detecting overlapping protein complexes in protein-protein interaction networks. Nat Methods. (2012)

MacGurn JA, Hsu PC, Emr SD. Ubiquitin and Membrane Protein Turnover: From Cradle to Grave. Annu Rev Biochem. (2012)

Macdonald C, Buchkovich NJ, Stringer DK, Emr SD, Piper RC. Cargo ubiquitination is essential for multivesicular body intralumenal vesicle formation. EMBO Rep. (2012)

Bastos de Oliveira FM, Harris MR, Brazauskas P, de Bruin RA, Smolka MB. Linking DNA replication checkpoint to MBF cell-cycle transcription reveals a distinct class of G1/S genes. Embo J. (2012)

Travesa A, Kuo D, de Bruin RA, Kalashnikova TI, Guaderrama M, Thai K, Aslanian A, Smolka MB, Yates JR 3rd, Ideker T, Wittenberg C. DNA replication stress differentially regulates G1/S genes via Rad53-dependent inactivation of Nrm1. EMBO J. (2012)

Fromme JC, Kim J. A rapid and quantitative coat protein complex II vesicle formation assay using luciferase reporters. Anal Biochem. (2012)

Wang X, Wei X, Thijssen B, Das J, Lipkin SM, Yu H. Three-dimensional reconstruction of protein networks provides insight into human genetic disease. Nature Biotechnol. (2012)

Hokanson, DE, Bretscher, A. EPI64 interacts with Slp1/JFC1 to coordinate Rab8a and Arf6 membrane trafficking. Mol. Biol. of Cell. (2012)

Liu W, Santiago-Tirado FH, Bretscher A. Yeast formin Bni1p has multiple localization regions that function in polarized growth and spindle orientation. Mol. Biol. of Cell. (2012)

Karotki, L. JT Huiskonen, CJ Stefan, NE Ziolkowska, R Roth, MA Surma, NJ Krogan, SD Emr, J Heuser, K Grunewald & TC Walther. Eisosome proteins assemble into a membrane scaffold. J. Cell Biol. (2011)

MacGurn, JA, PC Hsu, MB Smolka & SD Emr. TORC1 Regulates Endocytosis via Npr1-Mediated Phosphoinhibition of a Ubiquitin Ligase Adaptor. Cell. (2011)

Ripoll JJ, Roeder AH, Ditta GS, Yanofsky MF. A novel role for the floral homeotic gene APETALA2 during Arabidopsis fruit development. Development. (2011)

Lombardi ML, Lammerding J. Keeping the LINC: the importance of nucleocytoskeletal coupling in intracellular force transmission and cellular function. Biochem Soc Trans. (2011)

Shi, Y, CJ Stefan, SM Rue, D Teis & SD Emr. Two novel WD40 domain-containing proteins, Ere1 and Ere2, function in the retromer-mediated endosomal recycling pathway. Mol. Biol. Cell. (2011)

Wang X, Gulbahce N, Yu H. Network-based methods for human disease gene prediction. Brief Funct Genomics. (2011)

Xue Z, He Y, Ye K, Gu Z, Mao Y, Qi L. A conserved structural determinant located at the interdomain region of mammalian inositol-requiring enzyme 1alpha. J Biol Chem. (2011)

Santiago-Tirado FH, Bretscher A. Membrane-trafficking sorting hubs: cooperation between PI4P and small GTPases at the trans-Golgi network. Trends Cell Biol. (2011)

Lombardi ML, Zwerger M, Lammerding J. Biophysical assays to probe the mechanical properties of the interphase cell nucleus: substrate strain application and microneedle manipulation. J Vis Exp. (2011)

Booth JG, Eilertson KE, Olinares PD, Yu H. A bayesian mixture model for comparative spectral count data in shotgun proteomics. Mol Cell Proteomics. (2011)

McMurray, MA, CJ Stefan, M Wemmer, G Odorizzi, SD Emr & J Thorner. Genetic interactions with mutations affecting septin assembly reveal ESCRT functions in budding yeast cytokinesis. Biol. Chem. (2011)

Institute Publications Archive