Daniela Rotin

Research Synopsis

My laboratory has been studying the ubiquitin system, particularly the Nedd4 family of E3 ubiquitin ligases. We are studying the biochemistry, structure and function of these E3 ligases, as well as their physiological functions using cells and model organisms. Moreover, we have developed proteomic methodologies to globally identify substrates for E3 ubiquitin ligases and have subsequently focused our studies on some of the membrane proteins that were identified in these screens (eg the sodium channel ENaC, the FGF receptor, and several others). These studies are relevant to human diseases such as hypertension, cystic fibrosis (CF) and cancer.Other related project in the lab focus on two other membrane proteins: CFTR, the protein that is mutated in CF, for which we are developing assays and small molecules that can rescue the major mutation in this disease, and PTPsigma, a tyrosine phosphatase that malfunctions in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.