Joshua Tran
PhD Student
In cells, the Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport (ESCRT) Complexes are involved in membrane remodeling and scission. An ancient and evolutionarily conserved system, the ESCRTs are found to cluster cargoes, such as transmembrane proteins, and deform endosomal membranes away from the cystosol into cargo-containing intraluminal vesicles (ILVs). In my PhD, I want to uncover the mechanism of ESCRT-dependent ILV formation and in particular, focus on the impact of cargo clustering on ESCRT recruitment and subsequent membrane deformation and scission. I will be using in vitro reconstitution to investigate mechanism and complement this with cryo-electron microscopy to add structural context.
I started my PhD in the Roux Lab in September 2022. Prior to joining, I did my studies at the University of California, Berkeley where I earned a Bachelors in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in May 2022. My research journey began at the Scripps Research Insitute (La Jolla, CA) where I trained in the lab of Prof. Ian Macrae in x-ray crystallography for structure-based drug discovery. I continued my training in x-ray crystallography in the lab of Prof. James Hurley at UC Berkeley and investigated protein-protein interactions in the autophagy pathway.