Christopher  Stroupe
Degree(s): PhD
Graduate School: Yale University
Primary Appointment: Assistant Professor, Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics
Research Interests:
Biochemical, biophysical, structural, and cell biological studies of intracellular membrane tethering and fusion
Email Address: chris.stroupe@virginia.edu
Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program(s)
  • Biomedical Sciences Graduate Programs
    • Research Description

    Our lab uses biochemical, biophysical, structural, and cell biological techniques to study the molecular mechanisms underlying intracellular membrane tethering and fusion in eukaryotes.


    Research in the lab centers around a six-subunit complex called HOPS (homotypic vacuole fusion and protein sorting). HOPS is needed for fusion of yeast vacuoles (analogous to lysosomes in metazoan cells) and for traffic from the Golgi apparatus and endosomes to the vacuole.


    HOPS is an effector for the vacuolar Rab GTPase Ypt7p, that is, it is recruited to membranes by GTP-bound Ypt7p. It also interacts with vacuolar “SNARE” proteins. (SNAREs are thought to directly catalyze membrane fusion through formation of membrane-bridging “trans-SNARE complexes”.) Clearly, HOPS is a central regulator of membrane tethering and fusion, but the biochemical mechanisms by which it functions are still unknown.


    Our lab has three main areas of interest:

    1. Biochemical and biophysical studies of reconstituted membrane tethering and fusion reactions:

    a. What intermolecular interactions mediate membrane tethering?

    b. How does the HOPS complex regulate SNARE complex assembly?

    c. How does the HOPS complex regulate the activity of SNARE complexes for membrane fusion?


    2. Structural studies of HOPS and its interactions with Rab GTPases, SNAREs, and membranes, using X-ray crystallography and scattering techniques, as well as single-particle cryo-electron microscopy.


    3. Cell biological investigation of how the HOPS complex mediates autophagy (a stress-response pathway that is, among other things, protective towards ischemic cell damage following heart attack and stroke).

    Selected Publications
  • Christopher Stroupe. (2012) The yeast vacuolar Rab GTPase Ypt7p has an activity beyond membrane recruitment of the homotypic fusion and protein sorting-Class C Vps complex. Biochemical Journal. 443: 205-11.
  • Christopher M. Hickey*, Christopher Stroupe* (* co-first authors), and William Wickner. (2009) The major role of the Rab Ypt7p in vacuole fusion is supporting HOPS membrane association. Journal of Biological Chemistry 284: 16118-25 (selected as JBC Paper of the Week, and evaluated by Faculty of 1000 Biology, 21 April 2009).
  • Christopher Stroupe, Kevin M. Collins, Rutilio A. Fratti, and William T. Wickner. (2006) Purification of active HOPS complex reveals its affinities for phosphoinositides and the SNARE Vam7p. EMBO Journal 25: 1579-89 (evaluated by Faculty of 1000 Biology, 19 April 2006).
  • Christopher Stroupe and Axel T. Brunger. (2000) Crystal structures of a Rab protein in its inactive and active conformations. Journal of Molecular Biology 304: 585-598.
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    Contact Information
      Office Address: PO Box 800886, 
      Office Phone: +1 434-243-1413

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