Unmin Pan

Biography

Professor Professor

Research Interest

Cilia and eukaryotic flagella (interchangeable terms) are microtubule-based cellular surface protrusions. They play essential roles in cell motility and signaling to regulate various biological processes including sensory transduction, development, and organ homeostasis. Defects in the structure and/or function of cilia/flagella have been implicated in various human disease and developmental disorders including renal diseases, disease of the respiratory system, male infertility, malformation of skeleton, obesity and etc.   The structural integrity and proper function of cilia/flagella requires coordinated regulation of the assembly and disassembly of cilia. In most of our studies, we are using Chlamydomonas, a uni-cellular green alga, as a model organism to study the mechanisms underlying the ciliary assembly, disassembly and ciliary length control. As cilia and eukaryotic flagella are conserved cellular organelles, our research findings have important implications for human development and human ciliary diseases..