I began working on gel-forming mucins in 1994 in the Department of Biochemistry at Duke University. Then I moved to the Cystic Fibrosis Center at UNC at Chapel Hill, where I continued to explore these fascinating glycoproteins until 2008.
After a hiatus of almost nine years in the biotechnology industry, other business paths, and some travelling across the beautiful USA, the opportunity to rejoin UNC-Chapel Hill within Dr. Boucher’s Marsico Lung Institute arose in 2017.
Many questions are still unanswered when it comes to how mucin-producing cells are able to handle so efficiently the biosynthesis, assembly, storage, and timely delivery of these (extremely) large macromolecules. Our current research efforts aim at developing novel experimental ways to approach these questions.
If you want to learn about our old studies and hypotheses, you can find them in the review manuscripts and book chapters listed below. Please bear with me until new findings will hopefully show up sometime within the next few years.
Perez-Vilar J, Boucher RC (2004) Re-evaluating Gel-forming Mucins Roles in Cystic Fibrosis Lung Disease. Free Rad. Biol. Med. 37:1564-77.
Perez-Vilar J (2007) Mucin Granule Intraluminal Organization. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 36:183-190.
Perez-Vilar J and Mabolo R (2007) Gel-forming Mucins. Notions from In Vitro Studies. Histol. Histopathol. 32:455-464.
Perez-Vilar J (2008) Formation of Mucin Granules. In The Golgi Apparatus. State of the Art 110 years After Camillo Golgi’s Discovery (Mironov A. & Pavelka M., eds.) Springer-Verlag, Viena/New York, pp. 535-562.
Perez-Vilar J (2009) Gastrointestinal Mucus Gel Barrier. In Oral Delivery of Macromolecular Drugs: Barriers, Strategies and Future Trends (Bernkop-Schnϋrch A., ed.) Springer-Verlag, Viena/New York, pp. 21-48.
