Steven Gross, Ph.D.
Professor
2222 Natural Sciences I
University of California Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697
Tel: (949) 824-3159
Fax: (949) 824-4709
Email: sgross@uci.edu
Website: Lab Homepage
Laser tweezers; Regulation of molecular motors – My research is quite cross-disciplinary. The majority of biological studies have focused on biochemical or genetic understanding of biological processes, however understanding the relevant physical processes is also important. 
Proteins physically do things, and to understand the biology, we must start to think about proteins as machines, as well as considering their biochemical properties and genetic regulation. We will soon know the Human Genome, we already know the Drosophila and the C. Elegans Genomes, and yet are very far from understanding how proteins work, and how the exquisitely ordered structures we observe in cells, embryos, and developed organisms come about. Cytoskeletal processes such as transport are important in the creation of this order, and my lab is attempting to develop and apply physical tools to quantify transport as it occurs in living cells.
Recent Publications
- Shubeita GT, Tran SL, Xu J, Vershinin M, Cermelli S, Cotton SL, Welte MA, Gross SP. (2008) Consequences of motor copy number on the intracellular transport of kinesin-1-driven lipid droplets. Cell., 135(6):1098-107
- Larsen KS, Xu J, Cermelli S, Shu Z, Gross SP. (2008) BicaudalD actively regulates microtubule motor activity in lipid droplet transport. PLoS One., 3(11):e3763.
- Kunwar A, Vershinin M, Xu J, Gross SP. (2008) Stepping, strain gating, and an unexpected force-velocity curve for multiple-motor-based transport. Curr Biol., 18(16):1173-83.
- Vershinin M, Xu J, Razafsky DS, King SJ,Gross SP (2008) Tuning microtubule-based transport through filamentous MAPs: the problem of dynein. Traffic., 9(6):882-92.
- Carter BC, Vershinin M, Gross SP. (2008) A comparison of step-detection methods: how well can you do? Biophys J., 94(1):306-19.
- Gross SP, Vershinin M, Shubeita GT. (2007) Cargo transport: two motors are sometimes better than one. Curr Biol.,17(12):R478-86. Review.
- Gross SP. (2007) Molecular motors: a tale of two filaments. Curr Biol. 17(8):R277-80
- Petrov DY, Mallik R, Shubeita GT, Vershinin M, Gross SP, Yu CC. (2007) Studying molecular motor-based cargo transport: what is real and what is noise? Biophys J., 92(8):2953-63.
- Martinez JE, Vershinin MD, Shubeita GT, Gross SP. (2007) On the use of in vivo cargo velocity as a biophysical marker. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 353(3):835-40.
- Vershinin M, Carter BC, Razafsky DS, King SJ, Gross SP. (2007) Multiple-motor based transport and its regulation by Tau. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 104(1):87-92.