Anthony Bretscher, Cornell professor of molecular biology and genetics, has been named associate director of the newly formed Cornell Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology (CICMB).

The institute will have a permanent home in the Life Sciences Technology Building, scheduled to open in early 2008. The recently named director of the new institute, Scott Emr, currently a University of California-San Diego School of Medicine professor of cellular and molecular medicine, is expected to start at Cornell this spring.

Bretscher will provide valuable insights into Cornell's culture and practices as he helps Emr develop the institute, design and equip new laboratories, recruit 10 new faculty (including two senior level researchers), plan the budget and develop relevant facilities across campus.

The institute will focus on advancing the understanding of how a cell works, including such aspects as signaling, membrane trafficking -- how proteins are shuttled across cellular membranes (an area in which Emr is a world leader due to his use of a yeast cell model to study membrane trafficking, which applies to all cells) -- and how a cell is shaped and internally organized (which is Bretscher's expertise).

"Tony's research on the regulation and function of the cell's cytoskeleton and on the molecular motors that drive the movement of intracellular compartments fits perfectly with the institute's goal of hiring outstanding scientists with interests in basic problems in cell biology," said Emr.

To investigate these and other cell-related areas, the institute will use techniques from chemistry, physics, biochemistry, genomics and cell biology with cutting-edge microscopy of living cells.

"I am very excited to be part of putting together an integrated institute of cell and molecular biology with such an eminent director as Scott Emr," said Bretscher, who has been at Cornell since 1981.

"Tony's been a leader in the field of cell biology and has been recognized nationally and internationally in this area," said Cornell Vice Provost for the Life Sciences Steve Kresovich. "We expect him to be a bridge builder and a catalyst in this."