Biography

Professor Lees holds the B.S. degree in Biology from Houghton College and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Molecular Biology from Princeton University.  Dr. Lees’ research interests center around the molecular assemblies that mediate and regulate fusion of biological membranes, with a particular focus on  understanding the molecular mechanisms of multi-subunit vesicle tethering factors.  His Ph.D. work focused on structural characterization of the conserved oligomeric Golgi (COG) complex.  Currently, he plans to extend this work using a related tethering factor, the Golgi-associated retrograde protein (GARP) complex, aiming through biochemical and structural approaches to elucidate molecular details of its function and shed new light on the process of vesicle tethering.