Joe Casey

Biography

The laboratory’s passion is membrane transport. How do integral membrane transport proteins function as micro-machines to move substances selectively across our cell’s membranes? How does disease arise when these processes go wrong? Bicarbonate Transport proteins move bicarbonate (HCO3-) across the plasma membrane of our cells.  This process is essential to control cell levels of the waste product carbon dioxide (CO2) and to regulate the pH (acid level) both inside and outside our cells.  Bicarbonate transport is a simple yet central part of our body's normal functioning.  Disruption of bicarbonate transport underlies many diseases. Our laboratory studies the role of bicarbonate transport in causing disease.  Supported by two operating grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, our major projects ongoing in our laboratory include: 1.  Determining the structure and transport mechanism of the chloride/bicarbonate exchanger, AE1, which is central to red  blood cell and kidney function.  2.  How do defects in the transport protein called SLC4A11 cause blinding corneal diseases: Fuch's endothelial dystrophy and congenital hereditary endothelial dystrophy?

Research Interest

Biochemistry