Dr. Pfeffer's laboratory is studying how human cells put receptors in the right place. This basic research is important for our understanding of a number of diseases including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, neurological disorders and stroke. They study Rab GTPases that regulate all aspects of receptor trafficking and signal regulation as well as peptide hormone and neurotransmitter secretion. They also study the Golgi complex, a processing station for 30% of the proteins encoded by the human genome, and the roles of NPC1 and NPC1L1 proteins in cholesterol uptake.