Assoc. Prof. Lu, Lei

Our lab focuses on the Golgi complex, a key organelle in membrane trafficking and protein processing. Comprising stacked cisternae (cis, medial, trans, and TGN), the Golgi modifies newly synthesized cargos from the ER and sorts them for delivery to the plasma membrane or endolysosome.

Despite decades of study, the molecular organization and trafficking mechanisms of the Golgi remain poorly understood. To address this, we developed a super-resolution imaging tool, GLIM, to localize Golgi proteins with nanometer precision. We also established en face and side-view averaging tools to resolve protein localization within cisternae. These approaches revealed that Golgi enzymes and trafficking machinery occupy distinct sub-cisternal zones. Using these tools, we found that secretory cargos exit the Golgi at the trans-Golgi, not the TGN, challenging classical models. We identified the Dopey1-Mon2 complex as a kinesin-1 adaptor mediating Golgi-to-periphery transport and uncovered a link between nutrient sensing and Golgi trafficking via the Ragulator-Arl5 pathway.

In parallel, we investigate ciliary targeting mechanisms, identifying a ternary complex of transportin1, Rab8, and targeting sequences, and proposing a Rab-importin–based retention mechanism.

Research Areas

Cell biology, Golgi, Cilium, Membrane, Fluorescence imaging