User:Sheets

My long-term goal is to understand quantitatively how critical molecular events in a variety of essential cellular processes control biological function. Specifically, I study immunoglobulin E (IgE) receptor signaling, which initiates the allergic response in mast cells. IgE receptor signaling has been proposed to proceed through an intricate, tightly choreographed dance of specific protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions that are controlled, in part, by heterogeneities in membrane structure. We are developing new quantitative tools to probe spatial and temporal dynamics of the molecular interactions involved in immunoreceptor signaling. To this end, our cross-disciplinary laboratory exploits approaches from biophysics and optics, to materials chemistry, to molecular and cellular biology and biochemistry to address questions ranging from the physical chemistry of lipids to the initiation of signal transduction to cell mechanics.

Erin D. Sheets Assistant Professor Department of Chemistry Pennsylvania State University 104 Chemistry Building University Park, PA 16802 ph: 814 863-0044 fx: 814 865-5235 lab website