Julia von Blume, PhD

Julia von Blume obtained her Ph.D. in the laboratory of Thomas Seufferlein at the University of Ulm where she investigated signaling dependent nuclear transport of protein kinase D (PKD). In 2007 she moved to the laboratory of Vivek Malhotra at University of San Diego (UCSD), USA and Centre Regulacio Genomica (CRG), Spain. During her work as a postdoctoral fellow she discovered a novel sorting mechanism for secretory proteins. The major components that regulate this unique sorting process include F-actin, cofilin, the Golgi Ca²⁺ ATPase SPCA1, Ca²⁺, and Cab45. She then moved as an independent group leader to the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich Germany to further dissect the sorting mechanism using in vitro reconstitution and cell biology. Her research program at Yale focuses on sorting reactions in the trans-Golgi Network (TGN) with particular emphasis on the role of protein and lipid complexes that recognize and pack secreted proteins into specific transport carriers. This process is crucial to facilitate the secretion and function of these factors in different cell types and organisms.