Welcome to The Schrankel Lab!
We study the mechanisms of animal defense systems at a cellular level.
We value maintaining an equity-minded and instructive environment in which to perform and disseminate our work.
Research Mission
We study the interface between the cellular defense systems of the developing embryo and its external environment. Our own environment is the beautiful San Diego State University!
At the lab bench, we focus on two defense systems: the innate immune system and the xenobiotic defense system ("chemical immune system"). Specifically within xenobiotic defense mechanisms, we study ABC transporters, which move small molecules across the cell membrane.
We are working to understand the roles and potential crosstalk of the immune system and ABC transporters during the protection and function of two very important cell types:
1. The gut epithelia, and their interactions with commensal or pathogenic microbes and natural products.
2. The primordial germ cell lineage (PGCs; the stem cells for egg and sperm).
We use basic model systems such as transgenic sea urchin embryos and mammalian cell lines. We also aim to better understand how low-dose yet chronic pollutants inhibit these systems, and may thus impact gut immunity and PGC development. This has widespread implications for animal adaptation, evolution, and human health.
