Stephanie L. Gupton, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department  of Cell Biology & Physiology

UNC Neuroscience Center

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

1. •B.S. North Carolina State University, 2001
   

2. •Ph.D. Scripps Research Institute, 2006
   

3. •Post-Doc Massachusetts Institute for Technology, 2006-2011
   

4. •Joined the department in 2011
   

email

111 Mason Farm Road

Campus Box 7090

Lab: 4332 MBRB

Office:4340B MBRB

Integrity in axon guidance and axon branching are required for the functional organization of the nervous system. Both axon guidance and axon branching employ the same fundamental cellular machinery: a dynamic cytoskeleton produces the force to initiate axonal plasma membrane protrusion, while vesicle trafficking supplies phospholipids and membrane proteins to the dramatically expanding axonal plasma membrane. Extracellular guidance cues, such as netrin, likely coordinate these cytoskeletal dynamics and vesicle trafficking to elicit specific neuronal responses. In my lab we are investigating the role of two neuronally-expressed ubiquitin ligases, TRIM9 and TRIM67, in netrin-dependent axon guidance and branching. We utilize a variety techniques including high resolution live cell microscopy, gene disruption, mouse models, and biochemistry to understand the complex coordination of cytoskeletal dynamics and membrane trafficking driving neuronal shape change and growth cone motility in primary neurons and in the developing vertebrate mammalian nervous system.

Personnel

Selected Publications

Movies

Positions available!! Highly motivated, independently thinking individuals with a strong interest in the fundamental cell biological mechanisms underling neuronal development. Please send inquiries and application by email, and I am happy to discuss projects with interested candidates.