Michael Glickman, PhD, Professor

Our lab hopes to gain insight into the cellular system that degrades proteins in a controlled manner. This system ensures that superfluous or defective proteins are marked with a molecular tag, the protein ubiquitin, and are disposed of in the cellular shredding machine, the proteasome. The ubiquitin-proteasome system is found in all eukaryotic cells and is – as its name indicates – ubiquitous. It is one of the organism’s most complex cellular systems and protects the body against serious diseases. For example, defective proteins that elude this system trigger serious diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, cystic fibrosis or diabetes.

We have a long-standing interest in understanding how ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like signals are recognized at the proteasome and the corresponding features of proteasome structure and function that define it as a molecular machine for intracellular protein degradation. We have adapted a 3-D human neuronal network to study the role of proteasome, deubiquitinating enzymes and ubiquitin signaling in general in neurodegeneration.