Dr. Liang Cai | 蔡亮

For more details on our lab’s research, please visit http://actin.cn/research.

Understanding where proteins go in a cell is a fundamental task in biology research. To accomplish this, you have to do a few things. First, you have to have your protein cloned into a eukaryotic expression vector as a gene, often fused with a fluorescent protein so you can see where your protein goes. Once you have this fusion, you have to use cell culture technique to put your gene into cells, a process called transfection. Finally, once the fusion protein is expressed, you have to observe the localization using a fluorescence microscope; if possible, you want to do this observation in live cells and in real time. By taking my module, you will not only learn these basic steps of cell biology research but also be given the chance to explore your own scientific questions.