Transmembrane Signaling in Development and Disease

Welcome to the Myers lab! We study a key aspect of cell communication: how extracellular signals are transmitted across the membrane to the cell interior. We are tackling this problem from membrane biochemistry, cell biology, physiology, embryology, and a range of related approaches to better understand how cellular identity is specified during development and how mistakes in this process drive cancer and other diseases.

Check out our recent publications!

  • A structural mechanism for noncanonical GPCR signal transduction in the Hedgehog pathway

    BioRxiv (2024)

    PDF

  • GRK2 kinases in the primary cilium initiate SMOOTHENED-PKA signaling in the Hedgehog cascade

    PLOS Biology (2024)

    PDF

  • A PKA inhibitor motif within SMOOTHENED controls Hedgehog signal transduction

    Nature Structural and Molecular Biology (2022)

    PDF

  • Smoothened transduces Hedgehog signals via activity-dependent sequestration of PKA catalytic subunits

    PLOS Biology (2021)

    PDF

  • Smoothened stimulation by membrane sterols drives Hedgehog pathway activation

    Nature (2019)

    PDF

“A cracker jack team of U of U undergrads works with principal investigator Ben Myers to break open a decades-old biological mystery.”

News Highlights

  • New preprint by Will Steiner, Nate Iverson, Zac Michaelson et al. on bioRxiv

    December 2024

    PDF

  • Nate Iverson presented at the 49th BSCB GenSoc UK Cilia Network e-symposium

    November 2024

  • Madison Walker and Will Steiner co-first authored a new publication on PLOS Biology

    August 2024

    PDF

  • Postdoctoral fellow Guibing Liu and research technician Hai-Dang Nguyen to join the Myers Lab

    July 2024

  • The Myers Lab featured on University of Utah Research News

    October 2022

    Link