Our work is driven by fundamental cell biological questions: How are the micron-scale functions of organelles determined by the assembly of nanometer-scale proteins? How do complex structures grow and duplicate? How are non-membrane-bound organelles differentiated from the cytoplasm?

The Wang lab studies these questions in the context of the mammalian centrosome-cilium complex. Centrosomes and cilia are micron-scale, highly-conserved organelles involved in many essential cellular processes, including cell division, signaling, and motility. These organelles are critical in development, and their defects are associated with a wide range of disease states, including cancer and a group of syndromes known as ciliopathies. We use molecular, cellular, and biochemical approaches, including CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and high resolution microscopy, to address questions that integrate scales from tissues to proteins.

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