Fong Lab
Welcome to the Membrane Transport Physiology Laboratory! We are located in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
How do things get into cells and how do they get out? Our Lab is interested in how solutes and water move across the membranes surrounding and within diverse cell types. With respect to plasma membrane transport, we hold a long-standing interest in cells that organize as epithelia and transport solutes and water. This ultimately impacts multiple functions, from the level of the cell to that of the whole organism.
How do things move into and out of cellular compartments? Membranes defining intracellular compartments also have transport proteins, and these regulate intracompartmental ionic composition.This is important for essential processes such as protein degradation and turnover.
Taken together, knowledge of the normal physiology of both plasma membrane and intracompartmental transport processes ultimately informs our understanding of pathophysiological processes that arise from their dysfunction.
We currently are supported by NIH (NINDS) for our project on endolysosomal CLC transport proteins, CLC-6 and CLC-7, antiporters that have key roles in maintaining the ionic milieu within these important subcellular compartments (NIH R21NS131873). Previously, we received NIH (NIGMS) funding (NIH R15-PA-12-006). Past work also was supported by funds from the Kansas State University Center of Biological Research Excellence (COBRE) "Epithelial Function in Health and Disease", intramural funds from the Dean's Office of the KSU College of Veterinary Medicine, a bridging award from K-INBRE, the Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the American Heart Association.
Banner: Light microscopic image of thyroid epithelial cell monolayers showing "domes".
