Fred Tse

Biography

Fred Tse is a professor belongs to the department of Pharmacology from the university of Alberta.

Research Interest

My lab's main focus is the mechanisms of exocytosis: a process that allows the fusion of small vesicles inside a cell with the surface (plasma) membrane of the cell. This process underlies the secretion of neurotransmitters and hormones that are previously packaged into secretory vesicles. We have been employing a combination of biophysical approaches to precisely trigger and monitor exocytosis. These approaches include flash photolysis of "caged-Ca2+", membrane capacitance measurement in whole-cell mode, detection of catecholamine release from individual vesicles by carbon fiber amperometry. FTseLabRecently we discovered that cholesterol, a lipid that is normally enriched in both the vesicular and plasma membranes of cells, can selectively influence one stage of exocytosis: when the lumen of a secretory vesicle is just connected to the extracellular space via a very small structure called the fusion pore. We are collaborating with labs in the Faculty of Medicine to exploit RNA interference techniques (involving delivery by a virus) for acutely suppressing the expression of a cholesterol transporter that is recently discovered to be selectively expressed at secretory vesicles of endocrine cells. The effects of this lipid manipulation will be examined in two cells models that both secrete catecholamine: (1) Chromaffin cells of the adrenal gland, which mediates the key endocrine output of "stress" catecholamines (adrenalin and noradrenalin) in our body (2) Glomus (chemosensory) cells of the carotid body, which secrete dopamine (as well as other transmitters) for local para/autocrine signalling in response changes in arterial O2 and CO2.