Dr. Joe Casey

Understanding "ins and outs" of cell membranes

A cell's membrane is a thin layer of tissue, a delicately balanced filter, finely honed to control what flows in and what flows out of cells. If cells lose that control, if something goes awry, life itself is imperiled. In fact, malfunctioning membranes are implicated in a whole host of diseases, including cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's, cancer, muscular dystrophy and cardiovascular diseases.

University of Alberta physiology professor Joseph Casey says it's really important to maintain the cell's pH and volume. Bicarbonate transport proteins move carefully into and out of the cell to regulate cell pH. Understanding this finely tuned process has been the focus of Dr. Casey's work for much of his career.

Dr. Casey's work on bicarbonate transporters recently earned him the 2002 JAF Stevenson Visiting Professorship of the Canadian Physiological Society. Each year the Society offers a Visiting Professorship to an outstanding young Canadian physiologist. The purpose of the Visiting Professorship is to promote collaboration and exchange of information among investigators at Canadian universities and to strengthen graduate training programs in physiological research.

It's important to maintain the pH level of cells because when a heart attack occurs, cells can acidify and cause a chain of events that can kill off heart cells. Dr. Casey is trying to understand how bicarbonate transporters play a role in this chain of events. Bicarbonate transporters are found in heart cells, the brain and throughout the body.

Dr. Casey is a member of the well-funded and internationally recognized CIHR Membrane Protein Research Group, established in 1991 with a group grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Its members study the structure, function and biogenesis of biological membranes and sub-cellular compartments under normal and pathological conditions.

Group members many of whom are among Canada's top scientists are deciphering the complex signals and functions of membranes. The basic science work has huge potential for understanding just about every disease and health condition. "Our research will help us diagnose and treat different membrane-associated disorders, and help us develop new therapies to treat them," Dr. Casey says.

For further information, please contact Dr. Joe Casey using the Email contact form or by phone at 780 492-7203