Anne Kenworthy, PhD
Anne Kenworthy, PhD, professor and assistant director of the Center for Membrane and Cell Physiology, Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, was awarded a $2.8 million grant for a project titled “Structure and Function of Non-Conventional Caveolins.”
The goal of the work is to investigate the biological activities of caveolins, a family of unusual membrane proteins that function as key regulators of the cardiovascular system, muscle, and adipose tissue. How caveolins control so many different aspects of human physiology is unknown. Dr. Kenworthy’s team will investigate how the structure of specific caveolin family members is tuned to support their biological activities using cutting-edge technologies. The results of these studies will help us better understand how caveolins ensure proper function of multiple organ systems and how defects in caveolins give rise to diseases such as cancer, muscular dystrophy, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and lipodystrophy.
Collaborators on the project include Ilya Levental, PhD, in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics at UVA, and Melanie Ohi, PhD, at the Life Sciences Institute and Department of Cell & Developmental Biology, University of Michigan.
Learn more about Dr. Kenworthy’s research.