William Brusilow

Dr. Bill Brusilow uses E. coli to study the proton ATPase, the enzyme responsible for synthesizing most of the ATP in living systems. His laboratory has addressed many aspects of this enzyme, including the steps in assembly of this multimeric membrane-bound complex, the regulation of expression of the various genes, and how metabolic changes affect subunit stoichiometry and the thermodynamics of energy coupling. A second project, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Needleman, involves studying the anti-proliferative effects of phenylalkanoic acids, using yeast as a model system. These compounds have demonstrated anti-cancer effects in the laboratory and in clinical trials, but the mechanism is unknown. The collaborative yeast studies have demonstrated a number of fundamental effects of these drugs on amino acid uptake, protein turnover, and signal transduction.