David Pruyne profile picture
315 464-8569

David Pruyne, PhD

118 Weiskotten Hall
766 Irving Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13210
David Pruyne's email address generated as an image

CURRENT APPOINTMENTS

Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

LANGUAGES

English

WEB RESOURCES

RESEARCH PROGRAMS AND AFFILIATIONS

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Biomedical Sciences Program
Cell and Developmental Biology

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Understanding how muscle cells organize their actin cytoskeleton into efficient contractile units, using a combination of in vitro biochemistry, and analysis of cultured muscle cells and genetic models C. elegans and zebrafish.

EDUCATION INTERESTS

Histology for graduate and medical students.

ASSOCIATIONS / MEMBERSHIPS

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

EDUCATION

PhD: Cornell University, 1999, Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology
BS: Cornell University, 1993, Biochemistry

RESEARCH ABSTRACT

The actin cytoskeleton is a network of protein filaments that populate the cell's cytoplasm. In muscle cells, a precise arrangement of these filaments allows for muscle contraction. Our primary goal is to understand at the molecular level how these filaments come to be arranged. Our focus is on the family of actin-organizing proteins called FHOD-family formins. The FHOD proteins are across animals, and are known to promote the proper organization of the muscle cell cytoskeleton, but details of how they contribute remain unclear. We are probing the functions of FHOD homologs through a combination of biochemical assays using purified proteins, microscopic studies using primary cultures of avian muscle cells, and genetic studies of muscle development in the model organisms Caenorhabditis elegans and the zebrafish Danio rerio.

PUBLICATIONS

Link to PubMed (Opens new window. Close the PubMed window to return to this page.)