TRUMAN LAB
Understanding the Chaperone Code
University of North Carolina at Charlotte · Charlotte, NC, USA
Protein folding is essential for cellular life, and Hsp70 chaperones help guide this process across organisms from bacteria to humans. Our lab studies how Hsp70 function is regulated in health and disease.
Proteins must fold into precise shapes to perform their functions in cells. This process, often described as “protein origami,” is assisted by molecular chaperones. Our laboratory focuses on the Hsp70 chaperone, a highly conserved protein found in all forms of life. Because Hsp70 helps fold and maintain proteins, it can support the activity of mutated proteins in cancer. At the same time, Hsp70 can also help disassemble toxic protein species associated with neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
We are especially interested in the chemical modifications added to Hsp70 as it works in the cell, a regulatory system we call the Chaperone Code. Our goal is to define how this code controls Hsp70 function at a fundamental level and how it contributes to human disease, including cancer and neurodegeneration.
Our group is multidisciplinary, integrating biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology and proteomics. We study these chaperone dynamics in a range of systems including purified proteins, bacteria, budding yeast and in cancer cell lines.
Ode to the code (here)
UNC Charlotte Truman Lab publishes new insights into cellular heat shock response in Nature Communications (here)
To hear about our latest studies, please see Dr. Truman's presentation for the Proteostasis Consortium (here)
Our Research Team
Our team is a vibrant mix of undergraduate and graduate trainees, technicians and post-doctoral researchers who study all aspects of the chaperone code from an evolutionary perspective through to implications for human disease. Meet the team here!
About
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Our Space
Dr. Truman’s laboratory (approximately 1200 sq. ft.) is located in Woodward Hall, a state-of-the-art science and technology building on the UNC Charlotte campus. In addition, a dedicated cell culture room (150 sq. ft.) are included in his lab. His laboratory is one of the Biomedical Research Groups in the Department of Biological Sciences, occupying more than 18,000 sq. ft. of laboratory space in total.
