The Barr Lab

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In the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, cilia are found on the dendritic endings ... More >

Sexual behaviors are evoked by a wide variety of sensory cues and generated by specialized sensory neurons ... More >

Several human genetic disorders, including autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease ... More >

Geneticists have relied on outward appearances, or phenotypes, to build hypothesis about gene functions and pathways. In this spirit, the Barr lab uses forward (phenotype-to-genotype) and reverse genetics (gene-to-function) screens to understand the molecular basis of sensory behaviors.

Most recently, we have been interested in how sensory receptors get targeted to their site of action: cilia located on the distal ends of dendrites. We performed mutagenesis and RNAi screens looking for genes that regulate the localization of the transient receptor potential polycystin-2 (TRPP2) channel. These screens have revealed that phosphoinositides, tubulin post-translational modifications, and extracellular matrix proteins all play important roles in ciliary receptor trafficking.

October 2011

Read about tubulin modifications and ciliary stability in Bob O'Hagan and Malan Silva's paper in Current Biology Oct 6. This was a great collaboration with the Swoboda (Karolinska Institute) and Hall (Albert Einstein) labs.

Check out our "sexy cougar" paper by Natalia Morsci and Lenny Haas in Genetics October 3.

Congratulations to Julie Maguire on receiving a Busch graduate student fellowship..

Welcome to our new lab undergrads Sai Khisty and Mike Klaszky.

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