Welcome to the Home Page for the
Laboratory for the Investigation of
Systems of Import
a.k.a.
the Theg Lab
at the
Division of Biological Sciences
Section of Plant Biology
University of California at Davis
 
What we do
Who we are
Where we are
Publications
Who we were
Positions open
Geckomail
SmartSite
JBC

Or click the picture to go directly to Steve's useful links 		 

What goes on in the Theg lab?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The current objectives of the research in the Theg lab are to understand the events surrounding the transport of proteins across biological membranes and their assembly into larger multimeric complexes. Most of the laboratory's efforts focus on protein trafficking and assembly in chloroplasts isolated from higher plants (often peas, but now also Arabidopsis and the moss Physcomitrella patens).

 

 

 

 

 

These organelles represent an excellent model system in which to study cellular protein targeting as they are easily separated from other organelles, and retain a high level of metabolic activity after isolation. In addition, they contain a level of structural complexity that requires additional sorting of proteins within the organelle. In these sorting reactions, chloroplasts utilize different protein targeting paradigms which are individually used by other organelles. Consequently, lessons learned from the study of protein targeting to and within chloroplasts can, in principle, be applied to a number of other polypeptide translocating systems.

Who are we?

The current make-up of the lab is: (Some have their own pages. For those that do, a click on their pictures takes you there.)
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and then in no particular order . . .

Steve Theg

Well, he's the PI

.

Lan-Xin Shi

Postdoctoral Researcher

Shari Lo

Graduate Student

Christopher Fortenbach

Undergraduate Researcher

Huong Huang

Undergraduate Researcher

Basir Syed

Undergraduate Researcher

Donna Ma

Moss technician

Ting Li

Lab entropy reduction specialist

Ruby Ibarra

Office entropy reduction specialist

 
Additional lab photos can be seen here in the lab photo gallery.
 
 
 

Where are we?

The labs are located in rooms 2107 and 2111 in the Life Sciences Addition on the UC-Davis campus.

Recent publications (including abstracts)

Click the picture


 

Former Postdocs and Graduate Students in the Theg Lab

• William F. Ettinger - Postdoc from 1989 to 1992, worked on the assembly of the photosynthetic oxygen-evolvng complex. He is currently an Associate Professor at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.

• Sidney Varian Scott - Graduate Student from 1989 to 1993. Thesis title: The Mechanism of Protein Transport Across the Chloroplast Envelope Membranes.

• Sonya A. Clark - Postdoc from 1993 to 1996, worked on the transport of proteins across the envelope and thylakoid membranes. Last time she checked in she was working at a biotech company, BioMarin, near San Francisco.

• Robin A. Roffey - Postdoc from 1993 to 1996, worked on the assembly of the photosynthetic oxygen-evolvng complex. She is on the faculty in the biology program at Sacramento City College.

 

• Akiko Hashimoto - Visiting Graduate Student from 1993 to 1996. During the three years she spent in the Theg lab, she was a registered student at Okayama University, which remained the degree granting institution. Thesis title: Assembly of the Photosynthetic Oxygen-Evolving Complex Subunits from Higher Plants: Site of Assembly and Mechanism of Binding.

 

• Ellen A. Leheny - Graduate Student from 1991 to 1996. Thesis title: An Investigation of the Conservation of Protein Transport Pathways in Chloroplasts. She works for Pfizer in New York City.

 

• Sarah A. Teter - Graduate Student from 1993 to 1997. Thesis title: Electrophysiological and Mechanistic Characterization of a Post-translational Protein Transport Machinery: The Thylakoid Delta pH-Dependent Pathway.

 

• Yuka Tomokawa - Visiting Graduate Student from July 1998 to February 1999. She returned to Japan to finish her Master's degree with Professor Yasusi Yamamoto at Okayama University.


• Siegfried Musser - Postdoc from 1997 to August 1999. Worked on the mechanism of protein transport on the thylakoid deltapH-dependent pathway. After working as a postdoc with Jeff Gelles at Brandeis University, he is now an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University.


• Mark Havrilla Ainsworth - Graduate student from 1995-2000.Thesis title: Delta-pH Dependant Thylakoid Protein Translocation. Mark is the Biotechnology Program Coordinator/Instructor at Seattle Central Community College.

• Heather Scott - Graduate student from 1998 to 2000. SAfter a stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania, in western Afirca, she taught high school in New York City. She is now living in Ithica, N.Y. Click on her picture to learn more...

• Nancy Pergam Alder- Garduate Student from 1998-2002.

 

• Nathan Alder - Graduate Student from 1998-2002. Thesis title: Analysis of the Energentics and Kinetics of Protein Transport via the Delta-pH Dependent/cpTAT Pathway in Thylakoids. Nathan is currently a postdoc with Art Johnson at Texas A&M University.

 

• Nancy Hoffman - Graduate Student from 2000-2005. Thesis title: Protein Targeting in Chloroplasts.

• Nikolai Braun - Graduate Student from 2002-2007. Thesis title: Energetic Studies of the cpTat Protein Transport Pathway. Nikolai is currently a postdoc with Blanche Schwappach at the University of Manchester.

Positions currently open in the lab

Sorry, ther are currently no unfilled positions open in the lab
Have you ever asked yourself whether you are a geneticist, a cell biologist, a biochemist, or what? Click here to learn the answer.  
  The drawing of the chloroplast on this page came from Matej Lexa's The Virtual Cell.