Columbus Labs

The research aims of the Columbus laboratory are two-fold:

To address the challenges in membrane protein structural biology
To investigate the structural determinants of bacterial pathogen - host interactions mediated by membrane proteins.

Specifically, the structures of neisserial Opa proteins, which interact with host proteins and are directly involved in bacterial pathogenesis, are of interest.

However, in order to investigate the structure of these proteins, as well as the complexes with the host receptors, methods for accelerating structure determination are being developed. [Read more→]

Recent Headlines

Columbus and Criss labs receive UVA nanoSTAR seed funds» August 26, 2010
Columbus Lab’s work highlighted in APS Science» May 27, 2010
Ashley publishes in The Spectra» May 23, 2010

Recent Publications

Structure of the GLD-1 homodimerization domain: insights into STAR protein-mediated translational regulation.»
Beuck C, Szymczyna BR, Kerkow DE, Carmel AB, Columbus L, Stanfield RL, Williamson JR. Structure of the GLD-1 homodimerization domain: insights into STAR protein-mediated translational regulation. Structure 18:377-89 (2010).
Posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression is an important mechanism for modulating protein levels in eukaryotes, especially in developmental pathways. The highly conserved homodimeric STAR/GSG proteins play a […]