AIBN Seminar Series Structural and Mechanistic Insights into Nutrient Transport at the Blood Brain Barrier

We are pleased to present Dr. Rosemary Cater to speak on the topic Structural and Mechanistic Insights into Nutrient Transport at the Blood Brain Barrier

When: November 22nd 2023

Where: AIBN Level 1 Seminar room or online via zoom https://uqz.zoom.us/j/84905769928

Time: 11am-12pm

Abstract

The human brain is infiltrated by more than 600 km of blood vessels which are lined by endothelial cells that separate the blood from the brain parenchyma. These cells are tightly packed together and feature reduced rates of endocytosis – features which are referred to as the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB). These blood vessels and the BBB are critical for supplying our brains with essential nutrients, and protecting it from noxious stimuli. Transporters play a very important role in this process. We have structurally and functionally characterized two different transporters – MFSD2A and FLVCR2 – that are highly expressed at the BBB and are critical for the import of the essential nutrients DHA and choline into the brain.

Bio

Rosemary Cater is an Associate Research Fellow at Columbia University, New York.  She utilizes structural biology, membrane protein biochemistry, and biophysics to understand some of the brain’s most elusive yet important proteins.

Dr. Cater fulfilled her Ph.D. at the University of Sydney under the supervision of Prof. Renae Ryan and Prof. Robert Vandenberg, where she used electrophysiology and x-ray crystallography to understand how glutamate transporters serve a secondary role as chloride channels. Since 2017, she has been working in the laboratory of Prof. Filippo Mancia where she uses single-particle cryo-electron microscopy and antigen-binding technology to determine structures of small membrane protein.

In 2024 Dr. Cater will be starting her own lab at the Institute of Molecular Bioscience (University of Queensland), Australia. The overarching goal of her lab will be to understand molecular mechanisms of transport at the blood-brain barrier.