Membrane Biology

While studying one of the molecular components of membrane trafficking—the GTP-binding protein ARF6—Dr. Julie G. Donaldson, who leads the Membrane Biology Laboratory, discovered that cells also operate a distinct endocytic pathway independent of clathrin. Since that discovery, Dr. Donaldson’s laboratory has found that clathrin-independent endocytosis (CIE) occurs in every human cell type they have examined.