Janice Robertson, PhD

Research:

The goal of my research is to understand the how membrane proteins self-assemble and adopt their folded structures to carry out specific biological functions in cell membranes.

Membrane proteins are the molecular gatekeepers of the cell, governing the passage of charged species and thereby enabling the storage of potential energy that fuels biology. Despite their overwhelming importance, we
still do not understand many of the basic physical reactions of membrane proteins in the context of their native solvent that is the cell membrane. The goal of my laboratory’s research is to provide a quantitative understanding of the reactions of membrane proteins in lipid bilayers through an integration of membrane protein biochemistry, single-molecule fluorescence microscopy and computational modeling. By combining these disciplines, we are developing new approaches to investigate three long-standing questions in this field.