Neta Dean, Ph.D. Professor Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology Life Sciences Building Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY 11794-5215 Office telephone: 631-632-9309 E-mail: Neta.Dean@stonybrook.edu
Research Description

Protein glycosylation is an essential modification that functions in a variety of biological roles ranging from the stabilization of protein structure to the regulation of cell surface properties. The N-linked oligosaccharides attached to proteins are the most common, most complex and most functionally diverse covalent modification that exist. Our research aims to understand how this modification is regulated, how glycoproteins mediate their biological roles at the cell surface, and how cell wall biosynthesis is coordinated with growth and division. As a model system for most of these studies, we use the budding yeast S. cerevisiae so that we can apply a combined genetic, biochemical, and cell biological approach to addressing these problems. Since cell surface carbohydrates are amongst the primary virulence determinants of pathogenic fungi, a major effort is also underway to understand the regulation of cell surface glycoprotein synthesis in the most frequently isolated human fungal pathogen, Candida albicans.

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