Brooke Gardner

Biography

Dr. Gardner received her BA in Biochemistry from Middlebury College and her PhD in Biochemistry from UC San Francisco in the lab of Dr. Peter Walter. As a Miller Fellow at UC Berkeley, Dr. Gardner worked in Dr. Andreas Martin’s lab investigating the role of AAA-ATPase motor proteins in peroxisome biogenesis. She joined the MCDB faculty at UC Santa Barbara in 2019.

Research

One of the defining features of eukaryotic cells is the presence of membrane-bound organelles, which divide the interior of the cell into compartments that can be specialized for specific chemical reactions. While organelles allow the cell to create distinct environments, they also create new challenges for the cell – such as the biogenesis, growth, division, and specialization of the organelle. In the Gardner Lab, we focus on how the cell has solved these challenges for a metabolic organelle, the peroxisome. Using biochemistry, cell biology, and genetics, our ultimate goal is to understand how the cell uses approximately 30 dedicated Pex proteins to make a peroxisome de novo.

Selected Publications

Sheedy CJ, Chowdhury SP, Ali BA, Miyamoto J, Pang EZ, Bacal J, Tavasoli KU, Richardson CD, Gardner BM. PEX1G843D remains functional in peroxisome biogenesis but is rapidly degraded by the proteasome. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Dec 13:2024.12.10.627778. Link

Vu J, Tavasoli K, Sheedy C, Chowdhury S, Mandjikian L, Bacal J, Morrissey M, Richardson C*, Gardner B*. A genome-wide screen links peroxisome regulation with Wnt signaling through RNF146 and TNKS/2. Journal of Cell Biology. 2024 October 07; 223(10):-. Link bioRxiv preprint: Link

Ali BA, Judy RM, Chowdhury S, Jacobsen NK, Castanzo DT, Carr KL, Richardson CD, Lander GC, Martin A, Gardner BM. The N1 domain of the peroxisomal AAA-ATPase Pex6 is required for Pex15 binding and proper assembly with Pex1. J Biol Chem. 2024 Jan;300(1):105504. Link Link

Judy RM, Sheedy CJ, Gardner, BM. (2022) Insights into the Structure and Function of the Pex1/Pex6 AAA-ATPase in Peroxisome Homeostasis. Cells. 11(13), 2067. Link

Gardner BM, Castanzo DT, Chowdhury S, Stjepanovic, G, Stefely MS, Hurley JH, Lander GC, Martin A. (2018) The peroxisomal AAA-ATPase Pex1/Pex6 unfolds substrates by processive threading. Nature Communications. 9(1): 135. PDF

Gardner BM, Chowdhury S, Lander GC, Martin A. (2015) The Pex1/Pex6 Complex is a Heterohexameric AAA+ Motor with Alternating and Highly Coordinated Subunits. Journal of Molecular Biology 427: 1375–1388. PDF