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== Welcome to the Altman Lab! ==
== Welcome to the Altman Lab! ==
Research in our lab focuses on understanding how myosins function both individually and in their complex, cellular environments.
The inside of a cell is crowded and highly organized.  It is because of its ordered state that a cell is a dynamic and exciting environment.  Molecular motors are the biomolecules that generate force and motion, and thus do the work that is necessary to maintain the cell’s organization.


Force generation is critical for diverse cellular processes including transcription, translation, mitosis, cytokinesis, cell differentiation, and cell migration.   Common to biological processes such as these is the inter-conversion of chemical and mechanical energy (i.e. they are mechanochemical processes).  Our understanding of mechanochemical processes has benefited greatly from studies of molecular motor proteins, proteins that use chemical energy to perform workMyosins are a superfamily of molecular motors that use ATP hydrolysis to create directed motion upon interaction with the filamentous protein actin.
Research in our lab seeks to understand how the molecular motor myosin functions in the cell by taking a two-fold approach. The first approach is to study myosins outside of the cell (''in vitro'').  This allows us to reduce the complexity of the experimental system, but we must take the results from these experiments and extrapolate in order to understand how the motor actually functions inside the cell.  The second approach we take is to study myosins inside the cell (''in vivo'')This means that the system is more complicated, with many other biomolecules complicating our experiment, but it also means that the results are physiologically relevant.


== News ==
== News ==
6/15/13 - Summer research is up-and-running with Rebekah Daniel, supported by Willamette's [[http://www.willamette.edu/cla/scrp/|SCRP]] program.
*'''7/24/14''' - Congrats to Rebekah Daniel for being named Second Team Capital One Academic America on the 2013-14 NCAA Division III Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Team!  For more information, look [https://willamette.edu/news/library/2014/06/Bekah_Daniel.html here].


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*'''5/19/14''' - Congratulations to Cat Carragee, Rebekah Daniel, Jay Howard, and Bianca Nagata, who just graduated!


*'''6/15/13''' - Summer research is up-and-running with Rebekah Daniel, supported by Willamette's [http://www.willamette.edu/cla/scrp SCRP] program, Jay Howard, supported by Willamette's [http://www.willamette.edu/dept/saga/wu_programs/programs/carson/ Carson Undegraduate Research Grant], and Bianca Nagata, recipient of the Biology Department's [http://www.willamette.edu/~bstebbin/wilson.html Arthur A. Wilson Research Scholarship Award].


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Revision as of 22:46, 25 August 2014


Department of Physics, Willamette University

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Welcome to the Altman Lab!

The inside of a cell is crowded and highly organized. It is because of its ordered state that a cell is a dynamic and exciting environment. Molecular motors are the biomolecules that generate force and motion, and thus do the work that is necessary to maintain the cell’s organization.

Research in our lab seeks to understand how the molecular motor myosin functions in the cell by taking a two-fold approach. The first approach is to study myosins outside of the cell (in vitro). This allows us to reduce the complexity of the experimental system, but we must take the results from these experiments and extrapolate in order to understand how the motor actually functions inside the cell. The second approach we take is to study myosins inside the cell (in vivo). This means that the system is more complicated, with many other biomolecules complicating our experiment, but it also means that the results are physiologically relevant.

News

  • 7/24/14 - Congrats to Rebekah Daniel for being named Second Team Capital One Academic America on the 2013-14 NCAA Division III Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Team! For more information, look here.
  • 5/19/14 - Congratulations to Cat Carragee, Rebekah Daniel, Jay Howard, and Bianca Nagata, who just graduated!


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