My lab is broadly interested in the mechanisms of signaling and transport across cellular membranes. Our research encompasses several protein families: Nramp transporters that use a proton gradient to facilitate the entry of divalent ions (iron and manganese in particular) into cells; non-classical cadherins involved in cellular adhesion and signaling; ABC transporters that use ATP to fuel substrate transport; and TRP channels important to sensing temperature and painful stimuli. We use a variety of cell-based and in vitro biochemical assays, x-ray crystallography, and computational techniques (molecular dynamics simulations and bioinformatics analyses) to discover how these important proteins function in cells.