Elizabeth Conibear

PhD

Investigator, BC Children's Hospital
Principal Investigator and Scientist, Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics

The goal of my research is to identify the regulatory proteins that control vesicle transport in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in order to understand how underlying defects in protein and lipid trafficking contribute to human disease. Vesicle transport is required to switch off signaling receptors that would otherwise promote unregulated cell growth. Retrograde transport also carries signals that promote the continued survival of neurons, and defects in the machinery responsible for retrograde transport are believed to be a cause of motor neuron disease. Because vesicle transport processes are highly conserved, they can be studied in a very simple organism, and the findings applied directly to the study of human cells. Yeast genetics is therefore a powerful tool for the discovery of fundamental cellular mechanisms relevant to human health.

Academic Affiliations

  • Professor, , Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
  • Research Theme: Childhood Diseases
  • Research Group(s): Childhood Cancer and Blood Research; Rare Diseases

Contact Information

Location

950 West 28th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V5Z 4H4

Hoi1 targets BLTP2 to ER"PM contact sites to regulate lipid homeostasis

Journal of Cell Biology

Samantha K. Dziurdzik and Vaishnavi Sridhar and Hailey Eng and Sarah D. Neuman and Junran Yan and Michael Davey and Stefan Taubert and Arash Bashirullah and Elizabeth Conibear

DOI: 10.1083/jcb.202502131

05 / 2026

Septins associate with AP-3 to support trafficking to the vacuole/lysosome in yeast

Mitchell Leih and Michaela McCright and Cortney Angers and Michael Davey and Elizabeth Conibear and Alex Merz and Greg Odorizzi

DOI: 10.64898/2026.02.13.705769

02 / 2026

TMEM170 proteins are lipid scramblases associated with bridge-type lipid transporters BLTP1/Csf1

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

Cristian Rocha-Roa and Paige Chandran Blair and Gurpreet Sidhu and Daniel lvarez and Michael Davey and Elizabeth Conibear and Stefano Vanni

DOI: 10.1038/s41594-025-01716-0

02 / 2026

The Rab GEF VINE couples phosphatase recruitment to GAP-mediated Rab5 inactivation

Mia S. Frier and Shawn P. Shortill and Michael Davey and Elizabeth Conibear

DOI: 10.64898/2026.01.27.702132

01 / 2026

The molecular mechanism of lipid uptake by membrane-anchored bridge-like lipid transfer proteins

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Daniel lvarez and Paige Chandran Blair and Cristian Rocha-Roa and Michael Davey and Elizabeth Conibear and Stefano Vanni

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2520399123

01 / 2026

A shared binding interface controls Vps13 organelle-specific targeting independently of its vacuolar protein sorting function

Biorxiv

Jeffers, K.R. and Dziurdzik, S.K. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1101/2025.08.12.669934

TMEM170 family proteins are lipid scramblases that physically associate with bridge lipid transporters BLTP1/Csf1

Biorxiv

Rocha-Roa, C. and Sidhu, G. and Blair, P.C. and ?lvarez, D. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E. and Vanni, S.

DOI: 10.1101/2025.04.30.651444

Hoi1 targets the yeast BLTP2 protein to ER-PM contact sites to regulate lipid homeostasis

Biorxiv

Dziurdzik, S.K. and Sridhar, V. and Eng, H. and Neuman, S.D. and Yan, J. and Davey, M. and Taubert, S. and Bashirullah, A. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1101/2025.02.11.637747

An S-acylated N-terminus and a conserved loop regulate the activity of the ABHD17 deacylase

Journal of Cell Biology

Holme, S. and Sapia, J. and Davey, M. and Vanni, S. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1083/jcb.202405042

N-terminal signals in the SNX-BAR paralogs Vps5 and Vin1 guide coat complex formation

Shawn P. Shortill and Mia S. Frier and Michael Davey and Elizabeth Conibear

DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.24.576755

01 / 2024

N-terminal signals in the SNX-BAR paralogs Vps5 and Vin1 guide endosomal coat complex formation

Molecular biology of the cell

Shortill, S.P. and Frier, M.S. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E24-01-0043

An acylated N-terminus and a conserved loop regulate the activity of the ABHD17 de-acylase

bioRxiv

Holme, S. and Sapia, J. and Davey, M. and Vanni, S. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.14.594217

Genome-wide screen identifies new set of genes for improved heterologous laccase expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Microbial Cell Factories

Strawn, G. and Wong, R.W.K. and Young, B.P. and Davey, M. and Nislow, C. and Conibear, E. and Loewen, C.J.R. and Mayor, T.

DOI: 10.1186/s12934-024-02298-0

Genome-wide screen identifies new set of genes for improved heterologous laccase expression inSaccharomyces cerevisiae

Garrett Strawn and Ryan Wong and Barry Young and Michael Davey and Corey Nislow and Elizabeth Conibear and Christopher Loewen and Thibault Mayor

DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.10.548373

07 / 2023

The VINE complex is an endosomal VPS9-domain GEF and SNX-BAR coat

eLife

Shortill, S.P. and Frier, M.S. and Wongsangaroonsri, P. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.7554/eLife.77035

You can go your own way: SNX-BAR coat complexes direct traffic at late endosomes

Current Opinion in Cell Biology

Shortill, S.P. and Frier, M.S. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2022.102087

The Vps13 Family of Lipid Transporters and Its Role at Membrane Contact Sites

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Samantha Dziurdzik and Elizabeth Conibear

DOI: 10.3390/ijms22062905

03 / 2021

Systematic analysis of membrane contact sites in Saccharomyces cerevisiae uncovers modulators of cellular lipid distribution

bioRxiv

Castro, I.G. and Shortill, S.P. and Dziurdzik, S.K. and Cadou, A. and Ganesan, S. and Fenech, E.J. and Meyer, H. and Fadel, A. and David, Y. and Davey, M. and Mattes, C. and Valenti, R. and Ernst, R. and Zaremberg, V. and Levine, T.P. and Stefan, C.J. and Conibear, E. and Schuldiner, M.

DOI: 10.1101/2021.10.17.464712

Palmitoylation targets the Calcineurin phosphatase to the Phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase complex at the plasma membrane

bioRxiv

Ulengin-Talkish, I. and Parson, M.A.H. and Jenkins, M.L. and Roy, J. and Shih, A.Z.L. and St-Denis, N. and Gulyas, G. and Balla, T. and Gingras, A.-C. and Vrnai, P. and Conibear, E. and Burke, J.E. and Cyert, M.S.

DOI: 10.1101/2021.07.14.451536

The VINE complex is a VPS9-domain GEF-containing SNX-BAR coat involved in endosomal sorting

bioRxiv

Shortill, S.P. and Frier, M.S. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1101/2021.11.29.470412

Uncovering The Unique Functions And Regulation Of The Palmitoylated Calcineurin Isoform, CN1

The FASEB Journal

Idil Ulengin-Talkish and Rachel Bond and Nicole St-Denis and Anne-Claude Gingras and Alexis Shih and Elizabeth Conibear and Tamas Balla and Peter Varnai and Martha S. Cyert

DOI: 10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.07593

04 / 2020

A VPS13D spastic ataxia mutation disrupts the conserved adaptor-binding site in yeast Vps13

Human Molecular Genetics

Dziurdzik, S.K. and Bean, B.D.M. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddz318

A VPS13D spastic ataxia mutation disrupts the conserved adaptor binding site in yeast Vps13

bioRxiv

Dziurdzik, S.K. and Bean, B.D.M. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1101/768366

Competitive organelle-specific adaptors recruit Vps13 to membrane contact sites

Journal of Cell Biology

Bean, B.D.M. and Dziurdzik, S.K. and Kolehmainen, K.L. and Fowler, C.M.S. and Kwong, W.K. and Grad, L.I. and Davey, M. and Schluter, C. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1083/JCB.201804111

The chaperone Chs7 forms a stable complex with Chs3 and promotes its activity at the cell surface

Traffic

Dharwada, S.T. and Dalton, L.E. and Bean, B.D.M. and Padmanabhan, N. and Choi, C. and Schluter, C. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1111/tra.12553

An Interorganellar Bidding War: Vps13 Localization by Competitive Organelle-Specific Adaptors

Contact

Dziurdzik, S.K. and Bean, B.D.M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1177/2515256418814621

Quantitative high-content imaging identifes novel regulators of Neo1 traffcking at endosomes

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Dalton, L.E. and Bean, B.D.M. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E16-11-0772

Cargo selectivity of yeast sorting nexins

Traffic

Bean, B.D.M. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1111/tra.12459

Targeting the Ras palmitoylation/depalmitoylation cycle in cancer

Biochemical Society Transactions

Lin, D.T.S. and Davis, N.G. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1042/BST20160303

The alternate AP-1 adaptor subunit Apm2 interacts with the Mil1 regulatory protein and confers differential cargo sorting

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Whitfield, S.T. and Burston, H.E. and Bean, B.D.M. and Raghuram, N. and Maldonado-Bez, L. and Davey, M. and Wendland, B. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E15-09-0621

Large-scale analysis of membrane transport in yeast using invertase reporters

Methods in Molecular Biology

Dalton, L. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2309-0_27

Rab5-family guanine nucleotide exchange factors bind retromer and promote its recruitment to endosomes

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Bean, B.D.M. and Davey, M. and Snider, J. and Jessulat, M. and Deineko, V. and Tinney, M. and Stagljar, I. and Babu, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E14-08-1281

Enzymatic protein depalmitoylation by acyl protein thioesterases

Biochemical Society Transactions

Lin, D.T.S. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1042/BST20140235

ABHD17 proteins are novel protein depalmitoylases that regulate N-Ras palmitate turnover and subcellular localization

eLife

Lin, D.T.S. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.7554/eLife.11306

Single point mutation in Rabenosyn-5 in a female with intractable seizures and evidence of defective endocytotic trafficking

Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases

Stockler, S. and Corvera, S. and Lambright, D. and Fogarty, K. and Nosova, E. and Leonard, D. and Steinfeld, R. and Ackerley, C. and Shyr, C. and Au, N. and Selby, K. and Van Allen, M. and Vallance, H. and Wevers, R. and Watkins, D. and Rosenblatt, D. and Ross, C.J. and Conibear, E. and Wasserman, W. and Van Karnebeek, C.

DOI: 10.1186/s13023-014-0141-5

The palmitoyl acyltransferase HIP14 shares a high proportion of interactors with huntingtin: Implications for a role in the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease

Human Molecular Genetics

Butland, S.L. and Sanders, S.S. and Schmidt, M.E. and Riechers, S.-P. and Lin, D.T.S. and Martin, D.D.O. and Vaid, K. and Graham, R.K. and Singaraja, R.R. and Wanker, E.E. and Conibear, E. and Hayden, M.R.

DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddu137

Vesicle and organelle formation: making connections.

Molecular biology of the cell

Conibear, E. and Nichols, B.J.

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.e12-12-0875

Interaction landscape of membrane-protein complexes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Nature

Babu, M. and Vlasblom, J. and Pu, S. and Guo, X. and Graham, C. and Bean, B.D.M. and Burston, H.E. and Vizeacoumar, F.J. and Snider, J. and Phanse, S. and Fong, V. and Tam, Y.Y.C. and Davey, M. and Hnatshak, O. and Bajaj, N. and Chandran, S. and Punna, T. and Christopolous, C. and Wong, V. and Yu, A. and Zhong, G. and Li, J. and Stagljar, I. and Conibear, E. and Wodak, S.J. and Emili, A. and Greenblatt, J.F.

DOI: 10.1038/nature11354

Erratum: VPS35 mutations in Parkinson disease (American Journal of Human Genetics (2011) 89 (162-167))

American Journal of Human Genetics

Vilario-Gell, C. and Wider, C. and Ross, O.A. and Dachsel, J.C. and Kachergus, J.M. and Lincoln, S.J. and Soto-Ortolaza, A.I. and Cobb, S.A. and Wilhoite, G.J. and Bacon, J.A. and Behrouz, B. and Melrose, H.L. and Hentati, E. and Puschmann, A. and Evans, D.M. and Conibear, E. and Wasserman, W.W. and Aasly, J.O. and Burkhard, P.R. and Djaldetti, R. and Ghika, J. and Hentati, F. and Krygowska-Wajs, A. and Lynch, T. and Melamed, E. and Rajput, A. and Rajput, A.H. and Solida, A. and Wu, R.-M. and Uitti, R.J. and Wszolek, Z.K. and Vingerhoets, F. and Farrer, M.J.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.07.018

Vesicle transport: Springing the TRAPP

Current Biology

Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.05.045

Organization and Assembly of the TRAPPII Complex

Traffic

Choi, C. and Davey, M. and Schluter, C. and Pandher, P. and Fang, Y. and Foster, L.J. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0854.2011.01181.x

VPS35 mutations in parkinson disease

American Journal of Human Genetics

Vilario-Gell, C. and Wider, C. and Ross, O.A. and Dachsel, J.C. and Kachergus, J.M. and Lincoln, S.J. and Soto-Ortolaza, A.I. and Cobb, S.A. and Wilhoite, G.J. and Bacon, J.A. and Bahareh Behrouz and Melrose, H.L. and Hentati, E. and Puschmann, A. and Evans, D.M. and Conibear, E. and Wasserman, W.W. and Aasly, J.O. and Burkhard, P.R. and Djaldetti, R. and Ghika, J. and Hentati, F. and Krygowska-Wajs, A. and Lynch, T. and Melamed, E. and Rajput, A. and Rajput, A.H. and Solida, A. and Wu, R.-M. and Uitti, R.J. and Wszolek, Z.K. and Vingerhoets, F. and Farrer, M.J.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.06.001

Converging views of endocytosis in yeast and mammals

Current Opinion in Cell Biology

Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2010.05.009

Palmitoylation and depalmitoylation dynamics at a glance

Journal of Cell Science

Conibear, E. and Davis, N.G.

DOI: 10.1242/jcs.059287

Identification of the novel TRAPP associated protein Tca17

Traffic

Montpetit, B. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0854.2009.00895.x

The Endocytic Pathway

Trafficking Inside Cells

Elizabeth Conibear and Yuen Yi C. Tam

DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-93877-6_4

Regulators of yeast endocytosis identified by systematic quantitative analysis

Journal of Cell Biology

Burston, H.E. and Maldonado-Bez, L. and Davey, M. and Montpetit, B. and Schluter, C. and Wendland, B. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1083/jcb.200811116

Global analysis of yeast endosomal transport identifies the Vps55/68 sorting complex

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Schluter, C. and Lam, K.K.Y. and Brumm, J. and Wu, B.W. and Saunders, M. and Stevens, T.H. and Bryan, J. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E07-07-0659

An endocytic mechanism for haemoglobin-iron acquisition in Candida albicans

Molecular Microbiology

Weissman, Z. and Shemer, R. and Conibear, E. and Kornitzer, D.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2008.06277.x

Genome-wide analysis of membrane transport using yeast knockout arrays

Methods in Molecular Biology

Burston, H.E. and Davey, M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-59745-261-8_3

Discovery and expansion of gene modules by seeking isolated groups in a random graph process

PLoS ONE

Brumm, J. and Conibear, E. and Wasserman, W.W. and Bryan, J.

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003358

Evaluation of the Golgi trafficking protein VPS54 (wobbler) as a candidate for ALS

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Meisler, M.H. and Russ, C. and Montgomery, K.T. and Greenway, M. and Ennis, S. and Hardiman, O. and Figlewicz, D.A. and Quenneville, N.R. and Conibear, E. and Brown Jr., R.H.

DOI: 10.1080/17482960801934403

Molecular Architecture and Functional Model of the Complete Yeast ESCRT-I Heterotetramer

Cell

Kostelansky, M.S. and Schluter, C. and Tam, Y.Y.C. and Lee, S. and Ghirlando, R. and Beach, B. and Conibear, E. and Hurley, J.H.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2007.03.016

Palmitoylation by the DHHC protein Pfa4 regulates the ER exit of Chs3

Journal of Cell Biology

Lam, K.K.Y. and Davey, M. and Sun, B. and Roth, A.F. and Davis, N.G. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1083/jcb.200602049

Domains within the GARP subunit Vps54 confer separate functions in complex assembly and early endosome recognition

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Quenneville, N.R. and Chao, T.-Y. and McCaffery, J.M. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E05-11-1002

Toward the systems biology of vesicle transport

Traffic

Quenneville, N.R. and Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0854.2006.00436.x

An E-MAP of the ER

Cell

Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2005.10.016

Vps51p mediates the association of the GARP (Vps52/53/54) complex with the late Golgi t-SNARE Tlg1p

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Conibear, E. and Cleck, J.N. and Stevens, T.H.

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E02-10-0654

Ykt6p is a multifunctional yeast R-SNARE that is required for multiple membrane transport pathways to the vacuole

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Kweon, Y. and Rothe, A. and Conibear, E. and Stevens, T.H.

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E02-10-0687

An ESCRT into the endosome

Molecular Cell

Conibear, E.

DOI: 10.1016/S1097-2765(02)00601-9

Studying yeast vacuoles

Methods in Enzymology

Conibear, E. and Stevens, T.H.

DOI: 10.1016/S0076-6879(02)51861-9

Identification of Rgp1p, a novel Golgi recycling factor, as a protein required for efficient localization of yeast casein kinase 1 to the plasma membrane.

Journal of cell science

Panek HR and Conibear E and Bryan JD and Colvin RT and Goshorn CD and Robinson LC

PubMed: 11082047

12 / 2000

Identification of Rgp1p, a novel Golgi recycling factor, as a protein required for efficient localization of yeast casein kinase 1 to the plasma membrane

Journal of Cell Science

Panek, H.R. and Conibear, E. and Bryan, J.D. and Colvin, R.T. and Goshorn, C.D. and Robinson, L.C.

Vps52p, Vps53p, and Vps54p form a novel multisubunit complex required for protein sorting at the yeast late Golgi

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Conibear, E. and Stevens, T.H.

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.11.1.305

Multiple sorting pathways between the late Golgi and the vacuole in yeast

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Cell Research

Conibear, E. and Stevens, T.H.

DOI: 10.1016/S0167-4889(98)00058-5

Vacuolar biogenesis in yeast: Sorting out the sorting proteins

Cell

Conibear, E. and Stevens, T.H.

DOI: 10.1016/0092-8674(95)90088-8

Golgi and vacuolar membrane proteins reach the vacuole in vps1 mutant yeast cells via the plasma membrane

Journal of Cell Biology

Nothwehr, S.F. and Conibear, E. and Stevens, T.H.

DOI: 10.1083/jcb.129.1.35

A chimera of the cytoplasmic tail of the mannose 6-phosphate/IGF-II receptor and lysozyme localizes to the TGN rather than prelysosomes where the bulk of the endogenous receptor is found.

Journal of cell science

Conibear E and Pearse BM

PubMed: 8056846

04 / 1994

A chimera of the cytoplasmic tail of the mannose 6-phosphate/IGF-II receptor and lysozyme localizes to the TGN rather than prelysosomes where the bulk of the endogenous receptor is found

Journal of Cell Science

Conibear, E. and Pearse, B.M.F.

Specificity of binding of clathrin adaptors to signals on the mannose-6-phosphate/insulin-like growth factor II receptor

The EMBO Journal

Glickman, J. N., Conibear, E., & Pearse, B. M. (1989). Specificity of binding of clathrin adaptors to signals on the mannose-6-phosphate/insulin-like growth factor II receptor. The EMBO Journal, 8(4), 1041"1047.

PubMed: PMC400912

04 / 1989

Specificity of binding of clathrin adaptors to signals on the mannose 6-phosphate/insulin-like growth factor II receptor

EMBO Journal

Glickman, J.N. and Conibear, E. and Pearse, B.M.F.

DOI: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1989.tb03471.x

Current Project

Vesicle traffic is regulated by factors that select cargo for incorporation into a forming vesicle and direct its docking and fusion with the appropriate target membrane. The machinery that controls transport between two intracellular compartments - the endosome and the trans-Golgi network - is of particular interest because these compartments act as relay stations, directing a large number of different sorting events. We have used a genetic approach in the yeast model system to identify four components of a conserved protein complex (GARP: Golgi-associated retrograde protein complex) that directs the targeting of transport vesicles with the trans-Golgi network. We are currently using genetic, cell biological and biochemical techniques to analyze the interactions that link this vesicle targeting complex to other components of the membrane fusion machinery.

Recent advances in genome-wide phenotypic screening in yeast, combined with powerful bioinformatics analyses, hold great promise for the rapid and comprehensive identification of novel multi-subunit complexes. Functional genomics is expected to uncover most of the genes required for the trafficking of proteins and lipids through Golgi and endosomal compartments. In genome-wide screens, we have identified sets of genes likely to act together at common regulatory steps in protein sorting. We are now using biochemical/cell biological assays to characterize interacting proteins and analyze their role in protein and lipid trafficking in detail. Tackling a problem at many different levels - from genome-wide discovery studies in yeast, to the biochemical and cell biological characterization of specific protein complexes, to the investigation of homologous proteins in mammalian cells - allows an in-depth analysis of protein function and ensures that discoveries made in a simple model organism are efficiently translated to the study of medically relevant processes in mammalian cells.

Grants

Canada Foundation for Innovation Grant, 2013

Honours & Awards

UBC Killam Teaching Prize, 2014

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