Faculty

Sandra Schmid 
Chairman
Professor
Department of Cell Biology
TSRI - 1988

Education 
Ph.D., Stanford University, 1985

Awards & Activities 
Member, American Society of Cell Biology Council; Coeditor, Traffic; Editor-in-Chief, Molecular Biology of the Cell

Research Focus 
Molecular Mechanisms And Regulation Of Endocytic Clathrin Coated Vesicle Formation

Work in our laboratory is defining the molecular mechanisms of receptor-mediated endocytosis which involves the concentration of receptor-ligand complexes into clathrin coated pits and their internalization via coated vesicles. We have developed cell-free assays that faithfully reconstitute these processes. We use biochemistry, molecular biology, structural biology, biophysics and quantitative live cell fluorescence microscopy to elucidate the role of known coat constituents, clathrin and adaptors in endocytosis as well as the regulation of these events by the GTPase dynamin.

Selected References 
Conner, S.D., Schmid, S.L. Regulated portals of entry into the cell. Nature 422:37-44, 2003.

Narayanan, R., M. Leonard, B.D. Song, S.L. Schmid, and M. Ramaswami. An internal GAP domain negatively regulates presynaptic dynamin in vivo: a two-step model for dynamin function. J Cell Biol.169:117-26, 2005.

Ramachandran, R., M. Surka, J. Chappie, D.M. Fowler, T.R. Foss, B.D. Song and S.L. Schmid. The dynamin middle domain is critical for tetramerization and higher-order self-assembly. EMBO J. 24:559-66, 2007.

Yarar, D., C.M. Waterman-Storer, S.L. Schmid. 2007. Sorting Nexin 9 couples actin assembly to membrane remodeling during endocytosis. Dev. Cell 13:43, 2007.