Sherman Foo

Recent work has shown that the ESCRT-III machinery plays a conserved role in membrane remodelling during cell division in both archaea and eukaryotic cells. Yet, the mechanism of archaeal cell division is also likely influenced by the unique aspects of archaeal cell biology: the archaeal membrane and the highly glycosylated protein surface layer (S-layer) that envelopes the entire cell.
How the S-layer is dynamically remodelled during cell division to allow for proper segregation of DNA into the daughter cells remains unknown. I am a cell biologist with an interest in understanding the function, spatiotemporal regulation, and biogenesis of the S-layer in the context of archaeal cell division. The unique ability of the S-layer proteins to self-assemble into a wide variety of lattice structures also has the potential to be utilized in various biotechnological applications such as in drug delivery systems and in scaffolding functions. Thus, the study of archaeal S-layer function and dynamics represent a large and unexplored field and is an exciting avenue for both basic and applied research.