The Lagarias Lab is located in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Davis. The Lagarias Lab can be reached by phone: (530)752-7026 or by fax: (530)752-3085.
We are located in 31 Briggs Hall, UC Davis. Need to find us? Here's a map.
Our laboratory studies bilins, naturally occurring pigment molecules derived from heme. When associated with proteins, bilins confer the ability to absorb visible light. Biliproteins serve many functions: as light harvesting antennae in the photosynthetic apparatus of cyanobacteria and red algae, as light sensors to transduce light signals to behavioral responses in phytochromes, as camouflage or attractants in insects, and as antioxidants. This diversity reflects each protein's ability to optimize the bilin's wavelength sensing range and its excited state biophysics for a particular light-dependent function. Our studies seek to understand how biliproteins tune the properties of their bound bilins, and how the pigment's photophysics is leveraged by the protein to accomplish their diverse biological functions.