Dr. Karl Fath
Assistant Professor
(Ph.D.Case Western Reserve University)
Cell polarity, Golgi membrane trafficking, cytoskeletal motors
Office: NSB E -122 Tel: (718) 997- 3424
Laboratory: NSB E-141 Tel. (718) 997-315
E-mail: karl.fath@qc.cuny.edu
Research interests:
My research is directed toward elucidation of the roles of the cytoskeleton in the formation and maintenance of cell polarity. Not only is the cytoskeleton a scaffold crucial to cell shape, it also serves as the tracks or highways upon which cell components are delivered to their correct cellular destinations. The constituents of the apical cytoskeleton and plasma membrane are important in the physiology of polarized intestinal epithelial cells. I have found that myosin-I, a nonmuscle actin-based motor, and dynein, a microtubule-based motor, are bound to Golgi-derived vesicles and may be important in the targeting and delivery to the apical plasma membrane domain. The mistargeting of plasma membrane proteins can cause illnesses such as microvillus inclusion disease and polycystic kidney disease, therefore, an understanding of delivery mechanisms may provide therapeutic tools.
A-549 (human epithelial-like cell line) cells double-labeled for polymerized actin (red) and the coatomer protein beta-COP (green), which is involved in membrane movement along the biosynthetic pathway.
Selected Publications:
Barnaby, S.N., S.M. Yu, K.R. Fath, A. Tsiola, O. Khalpari, I.A. Banerjee. 2011. Ellagic acid promoted biomimetic synthesis of shape-controlled silver nanochains. Nanotechnology. 22(22): 225605. doi:10.1088/0957-4484/22/22/225605
Barnaby, S.N., S.H. Frayne, K.R. Fath, I.A. Banerjee. 2011. Growth of Se nanoparticles on kinetin assemblies and their biocompatibility studies. Soft Materials. 9(4):313-334. doi:10.1080/1539445X.2010.516302
Barnaby, S.N., S.M. Yu, A. Tsiola, K.R. Fath, I.A. Banerjee. 2011. pH dependent spontaneous growth of ellagic acid assemblies for targeting HeLa cells. J. Nanosci. Nanotech. 11(9):7579-7586. doi:10.1166/jnn.2011.4709
Smoak, E.M., K.R. Fath, S.N. Barnaby, V.C. Grant, I.A. Banerjee. 2011. pH tunable self-assembly of chicoric acid and their biocompatibility studies. Supramolecular Chem. 23(9):ahead of print. doi:10.1080/10610278.2011.601309
Nakatsuka, N., S.N. Barnaby, K.R. Fath, I.A. Banerjee. 2011. Fabrication of collagen-elastin bound peptide nanotubes for mammalian cell attachment. J. Biomater. Sci. Polym. Ed. 22(18): ahead of print. doi: 10.1163/156856211X598229; PMID: 21967742
Avanzato, C.P., J.M. Follieri, I.A. Banerjee and K.R. Fath. 2009. Growth of amino acid catalyzed magnesium oxide- germanium oxide nanocomposites and their antibacterial applications. Journal of Composite Materials. 43:897-910.
Henricus, M.M., K.R. Fath, M.Z. Menzenski and I.A. Banerjee. 2009. Morphology controlled growth of chitosan-bound microtubes and a study of their biocompatibility and antibacterial activity. Macromolecular Bioscience. 9:317-325
Johnson, K.T., K. R. Fath, M. M. Henricus and I. A. Banerjee. 2009. Self-assembly and growth of smart cell-adhesive mucin-bound microtubes. Soft Materials. 7(1):21-36 VIEW DOCUMENT
Spear, R.L., R. Tamayev, K.R. Fath and I.A. Banerjee. 2007. Templated growth of calcium phosphate on tyrosine derived microtubules and their biocompatibility. Colloids Surf. B: Biointerfaces; 60:158-166. VIEW DOCUMENT
K.R. Fath. 2006. Roles of the actin cytoskeleton and myosins in the endomembrane system. In Advances in Molecular and Cell Biology. E. Bittar, editor. Elsevier. 37:119-134.
K.R. Fath. 2005. Characterization of myosin-II binding to Golgi stacks in vitro. Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton, 60:222-235.
Boëda B, El-Amraoui A, Bahloul A, Goodyear R, Daviet L, Blanchard S, Perfettini I, Fath K.R., Shorte S, Reiners J, Houdusse A, Legrain P, Wolfrum U, Richardson G, Petit C. 2002. Myosin VIIa, harmonin and cadherin 23, three Usher I gene products that cooperate to shape the sensory hair cell bundle. EMBO J., 21:6689-6699.
Stow, J.L., K.R. Fath, and D.R. Burgess. 1998. Budding roles for myosin II on the Golgi. Trends in Cell Biology, 8:138 141.
Fath, K.R., G.M. Trimbur and D.R. Burgess. 1997. Molecular motors and a spectrin matrix associate with Golgi membranes in vitro. J. Cell Biol., 139:11691181.; VIEW DOCUMENT
Ikonen, E., J.B. de Almeida, K.R. Fath, D.R. Burgess, K. Ashman, K. Simons and J.L. Stow. 1997. Myosin II is associated with Golgi membranes: identification of p200 as nonmuscle myosin II on Golgi derived vesicles. J. Cell Sci., 110:2155 2164. VIEW DOCUMENT
Fath, K.R. and D.R. Burgess. 1996. Role of the cytoskeleton and molecular motors in transport between the Golgi complex and plasma membrane In Current Topics in Membranes. W. James Nelson, editor. Academic Press/San Diego, CA. 43:53 71.
Fath K.R., Trimbur GM, Burgess DR. 1994. Molecular motors are differentially distributed on Golgi membranes from polarized epithelial cells. J Cell Biol., 126(3):661-75. VIEW DOCUMENT
Fath K.R., Burgess DR. 1993. Golgi-derived vesicles from developing epithelial cells bind actin filaments and possess myosin-I as a cytoplasmically oriented peripheral membrane protein. J Cell Biol., 120(1):117-27. VIEW DOCUMENT
List of Publications from PubMed