Ian Macara, Ph.D.

Ian Macara, Ph.D.

Chair and Professor - Louise B. McGavock Chair, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
Co-Leader, Signal Transduction and Chemical Biology/VICC

Areas of Interest: Cancer Biology; Protein Structure & Function; Cell Signaling

Member: VICC; Epithelial Biology Center

Our laboratory addresses fundamental questions about epithelial homeostasis and cancer initiation. Most human cancers arise from epithelial tissues. We use the mouse mammary gland and skin, and human organoids as model systems. Transgenic mice provide powerful tools to probe mammary stem cell function, breast cancer initiation mechanisms, and responses to injury. We have developed genome-wide CRISPR screens to identify novel genes involved in epithelial homeostasis, cell competition, and apical-basal polarity. We also endogenously tag (with GFP, Halo, etc) proteins involved in epithelial cell polarity and polarized vesicle transport, using CRISPR gene-editing, so as to track these proteins with single molecule sensitivity. We employ multi-channel TIRFM and near-TIRF microscopy, which provides unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution of protein complex dynamics.