Dr. Ritter is currently the Director for Analytics & Admissions in GMS.
Her research interests and expertise is in intracellular receptor sorting controls basic cellular functions such as nutrient uptake and signaling as well as complex behaviors such as migration, differentiation and tissue morphogenesis. Accordingly, the proteins and mechanisms involved in the various sorting pathways are key to normal cell physiology and their misregulation directly contributes to human disease.
Her laboratory focused on clathrin-mediated sorting events and the regulation of these events by the NECAP protein family. NECAP1 controls the composition of the endocytic clathrin machinery to ensure normal vesicle formation and receptor internalization at the plasma membrane. In addition, NECAP1 is critical for synaptic vesicle recycling in primary neurons and a loss-of-function mutation in NECAP1 (EIEE21) has recently been identified as a heritable genetic cause of Ohtahara Syndrome/Early Infantile Epileptic Encephalopathy (EIEE). NECAP2 is not involved in clathrin-mediated endocytosis but instead controls the recycling of receptors from early endosomes to the cell surface. Since endosomal sorting pathways are still some of the least understood, we are now using NECAP2 to define the proteins and mechanisms involved in the regulation of receptor recycling and to understand the importance of this pathway for cell function.
Representative Publications
- Ritter B, Ferguson SM, De Camilli P, McPherson PS. A lentiviral system for efficient knockdown of proteins in neuronal cultures . MNI Open Res. 2017; 1(2). PMID: 29355247
- Chamberland JP, Ritter B. Retromer revisited: Evolving roles for retromer in endosomal sorting. J Cell Biol. 2017 11 06; 216(11):3433-3436. PMID: 29061649
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Chamberland JP, Antonow LT, Dias Santos M, Ritter B. NECAP2 controls clathrin coat recruitment to early endosomes for fast endocytic recycling. J Cell Sci. 2016 Jul 1; 129(13):2625-37. PMID: 27206861.
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Rouka E, Simister PC, Janning M, Kumbrink J, Konstantinou T, Muniz JR, Joshi D, O’Reilly N, Volkmer R, Ritter B, Knapp S, von Delft F, Kirsch KH, Feller SM. Differential Recognition Preferences of the Three Src Homology 3 (SH3) Domains from the Adaptor CD2-associated Protein (CD2AP) and Direct Association with Ras and Rab Interactor 3 (RIN3). J Biol Chem. 2015 Oct 16; 290(42):25275-92. PMID: 26296892.
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Allaire PD, McPherson PS, Ritter B. Analysis of connecdenn 1-3 (DENN1A-C) GEF activity for Rab35. Methods Mol Biol. 2015; 1298:217-31. PMID: 25800846.
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Wu Y, O’Toole ET, Girard M, Ritter B, Messa M, Liu X, McPherson PS, Ferguson SM, De Camilli P. A dynamin 1-, dynamin 3- and clathrin-independent pathway of synaptic vesicle recycling mediated by bulk endocytosis. Elife. 2014; 3:e01621. PMID: 24963135.
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Ritter B, Murphy S, Dokainish H, Girard M, Gudheti MV, Kozlov G, Halin M, Philie J, Jorgensen EM, Gehring K, McPherson PS. NECAP 1 regulates AP-2 interactions to control vesicle size, number, and cargo during clathrin-mediated endocytosis. PLoS Biol. 2013 Oct; 11(10):e1001670. PMID: 24130457.
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Allaire PD, Seyed Sadr M, Chaineau M, Seyed Sadr E, Konefal S, Fotouhi M, Maret D, Ritter B, Del Maestro RF, McPherson PS. Interplay between Rab35 and Arf6 controls cargo recycling to coordinate cell adhesion and migration. J Cell Sci. 2013 Feb 1; 126(Pt 3):722-31. PMID: 23264734.
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Kent CB, Shimada T, Ferraro GB, Ritter B, Yam PT, McPherson PS, Charron F, Kennedy TE, Fournier AE. 14-3-3 proteins regulate protein kinase a activity to modulate growth cone turning responses. J Neurosci. 2010 Oct 20; 30(42):14059-67. PMID: 20962227.
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Ceni C, Kommaddi RP, Thomas R, Vereker E, Liu X, McPherson PS, Ritter B, Barker PA. The p75NTR intracellular domain generated by neurotrophin-induced receptor cleavage potentiates Trk signaling. J Cell Sci. 2010 Jul 1; 123(Pt 13):2299-307. PMID: 20530577.
Complete list can be found at BU Profiles