Springer

Tim Springer

Springer Lab

Boston Children's Hospital

3 Blackfan Circle

Room 3103

Boston, MA 02115

Email: springer_lab@crystal.harvard.edu

Website: timothyspringer.org

Lab Size: Between 5-10

Summary

My lab studies receptor-ligand interactions and signal transmission across membranes. We use a wide range of structural, cell biological, and single molecule techniques to answer important questions relevant to immunology, hemostasis, mammalian biology, and human disease. A common theme throughout our research is how force interacts with protein conformational change to activate integrins, von Willebrand factor, proteins of the transforming growth factor-beta family, and adhesins on malaria sporozoites.

Publications

  1. Takagi, J., Petre, B. M., Walz, T., and Springer, T. A. (2002) Global conformational rearrangements in integrin extracellular domains in outside-in and inside-out signaling. Cell 110, 599-611 
  2. Xiao, T., Takagi, J., Wang, J.-h., Coller, B. S., and Springer, T. A. (2004) Structural basis for allostery in integrins and binding of fibrinogen-mimetic therapeutics. Nature 432, 59-67. PMC4372090
  3. Zhu, J., Zhu, J., and Springer, T. A. (2013) Complete integrin headpiece opening in eight steps. J. Cell Biol. 201, 1053-1068. PMC3691460
  4. Dong, X., Hudson, N. E., Lu, C., and Springer, T. A. (2014) Structural determinants of integrin β-subunit specificity for latent TGF-β. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 21, 1091-1096. PMC4717663
  5. Lin, F. Y., Li, J., Xie, Y., Zhu, J., Huong Nguyen, T. T., Zhang, Y., Zhu, J., and Springer, T. A. (2022) A general chemical principle for creating closure-stabilizing integrin inhibitors. Cell 185, 3533-3550 e3527, PMID: 36113427