Dr. Russel is an Adjunct Associate Professor whose research interests relate to how proteins and protein complexes are translocated across biological membranes in prokaryotes. More specifically, she studies how filamentous phage are assembled at the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane and extruded across the both cytoplasmic and outer membranes. She uses genetic, biochemical, physiological, and imaging techniques to determine the individual roles of phage-encoded proteins required for virion assembly and secretion. Taken together, this work has found that protein multimers in each membrane form a trans-envelope structure through which the assembling phage passes.