# Maximizing Investigators' Research Award

> **NIH NIH R35** · HARVARD UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $569,941

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
My lab has two main areas of interest: 1) tail-anchored (TA) protein targeting and quality control;
2) selective autophagy. Given that selective autophagy targets toxic protein aggregates and
damaged organelles for destruction, these two research areas have strong conceptual ties. In
many cases we are answering similar questions about substrate selectivity: What distinguishes
newly-synthesized TA proteins as substrates for endoplasmic reticulum protein targeting from TA
proteins targeted to mitochondria? What distinguishes TA proteins that are mistargeted to
mitochondria as quality control substrates from native mitochondrial TA proteins? What
distinguishes apparently damaged organelles as selective autophagy substrates from healthy
organelles? To answer these questions, we are dissecting diverse molecular mechanisms that
select substrates of grossly different sizes and operate on very different time scales. My lab is
known for its biochemical reconstitution work in the budding yeast S. cerevisiae but more recently
we have done genomics, quantitative yeast cell microscopy with theoretical modeling, and
genome-wide screens in mammalian cells.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10133089
- **Project number:** 5R35GM127136-04
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Vladimir Denic
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $569,941
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10133089

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10133089, Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (5R35GM127136-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10133089. Licensed CC0.

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