Research in the Tucker Lab focuses on the study and manipulation of protein interactions and pathways, including protein homeostasis and signaling pathways. In particular, we are interested in developing novel technologies that allow use of light for photocontrol of protein function. These engineered optogenetic tools allow regulation of molecular biochemistry and cellular behaviors in live cells with fast temporal and spatial precision. We pioneered a widely-used CRY2-CIB1 tool to control protein-protein interactions with blue light, which we are further developing and using to control diverse intracellular effectors. Other research interests include developing approaches to characterize and rescue misfolded proteins, designing new genetic assays to characterize unstable human disease proteins, and developing sensors of ligand-binding events. The approaches we take in the lab are interdisciplinary, ranging from biochemistry and protein engineering, to yeast genetics and screening, to molecular biology, cell biology, and imaging.

A complete description of research in Dr. Tucker’s lab can be found here: Tucker Lab webpage