Protein Movement Across Membranes

Protein Translocation Across the Endoplasmic Reticulum Membrane.- Preprotein Translocation through the Sec Translocon in Bacteria.- Protein Translocation in Archaea.- Structure of the SecYEG Protein Translocation Complex.- Membrane Protein Insertion in Bacteria from a Structural Perspective.- The Twin-Arginine Transport System.- Retro-Translocation of Proteins Across the Endoplasmic Reticulum Membrane.- Chloroplast Protein Targeting.- The Mitochondrial Protein Import Machinery.- Import of Proteins into Peroxisomes.

Jerry Eichler was born in Montreal, Canada, where he obtained his B.Sc. from McGill University. After spending time traveling in Asia, he moved to Israel. He subsequently obtained both his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in the field of neurobiology. Following post-doctoral training in the field of bacterial protein export in the laboratory of Bill Wickner at the Dartmouth Medical School, NH, USA, he returned to Israel to accept a university research position. Today, he is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Life Sciences at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva.

In his research, Dr. Eichler addresses protein translocation across the plasma membrane of Archaea, using a halophilic organism originally isolated from the Dead Sea as a model system. Archaea, the third domain of life, are best known in their capacities as extremophiles, creatures able to survive amongst the most physically challenging conditions on Earth. His work on archaeal protein translocation has been recognized by numerous international scientific bodies, including the Israel Society for Microbiology, which honored him with their Young Scientist Award in 2001.