Welcome to the Couve lab. Our laboratory is broadly interested in understanding how features of the neuronal protein trafficking machinery have emerged from conserved principles and mechanisms of simpler cellular systems to accommodate the neuron’s specialized morphological demands.

We combine conventional molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry with state-of-the-art fluorescent microscopy to tackle scientific projects focused on (i) the mechanisms that determine the surface availability of GABA_B receptors, (ii) the role of the ER structure and dynamics in the mobility and trafficking of GABA_B receptors and other synaptic proteins in dendrites and axons, and (iii) the role of ER structure and tubule extension in the trafficking of membrane proteins from the ER to the Golgi apparatus in non-neuronal cells.

The laboratory is located in Santiago at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile. The Faculty of Medicine is a rich scientific environment with a long-standing tradition in biomedical research and home to a number of graduate programs, including two of the most prestigious in the country: the Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Sciences and the Medical Specialist + Ph.D. Program in Medical Sciences.