Discover
Vaults
Nature's Little Mystery
One of the most abundant particles in the human cell, vaults are one of nature's tiniest mysteries. Drs. Leonard Rome and Nancy Kedersha first stumbled upon vaults in 1986. The Rome lab has spent the last 40 years researching this curious little structure.
Lessons with Lenny
What's so interesting about vaults? A lot! Take a deep dive with Dr. Rome (a.k.a. "The Vault Guy") to uncover the mystery of vaults and how they could potentially change the world one day.
Episode 1 - Nano, Nano, Nano
What exactly is nano, and why should you care?
Episode 2 - Taking a Cell-fie
Take a tour of the human cell and learn how vaults were first spotted.
Episode 3 - Discovery or Debacle?
Was the vault discovery actually just a contaminating virus?
Episode 4 - The Politics of Science Publication
Upon finding a new cell particle and naming it a vault, we furiously wrote up our results and sent in a manuscript for publication in one of the top science journals in the world.
Episode 5 - Judges Score the Vault
After our first vault paper was published, it was time to apply for a research grant so we could continue studying this mysterious new particle.
Episode 6 - Opening the Vault
Some biochemistry procedures seem like magic. SDS-PAGE, for example, sounds a lot like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious...but it’s not from Mary Poppins! I’ll show you how we analyzed the various vault components using this technique.
Learn more about the Rome Lab, who we collaborate with, a list of publications and additional resources, and ways to get in touch with us.
Vault News
Science.org published an article about Vaults and the Rome Lab's Research. "Leonard Rome’s lab discovered an odd, abundant component of cells in the 1980s—and he’s still trying to figure out what it does."
Visit the Site: The Vault Guy
Listen to the Podcast
The Royal Society of Biology’s award-winning magazine, The Biologist, just published a terrific article about vaults.
Check it out: The Key to the Vault