Revealing the biophysical origins of cytoskeletal metastability
Supervisor: Dr. Yu Shi
Project Description (Abstract):
The cellular cytoskeleton comprises cross-linked biological polymer fibers with protein motors exerting non-thermal forces. One of the major components of cytoskeletons is the actomyosin network, which is composed of actin filaments, myosin motor proteins, and various other components such as crosslinkers. It is responsible for various cellular behaviors, such as migration, mitosis, and immune processes. Extensive studies have focused on the microscopic biomolecular machinery that governs the dynamics of the building blocks in the cytoskeleton, but how the molecular interactions give rise to more macroscopic phenomena at the cellular level remains enigmatic. This project aims to correlatively image the key components of cytoskeletal networks and their dynamical fluctuations to investigate the biophysical origins of metastability in the cytoskeleton and the role of metastability in regulating biological processes such as mechanotransduction, cell division, and immune synapse formation.
Example Reference:
Shi, Y., Porter, C. L., Crocker, J. C. & Reich, D. H. Dissecting fat-tailed fluctuations in the cytoskeleton with active micropost arrays. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 116, 13839–13846 (2019).
Shi, Y. et al. Pervasive cytoquakes in the actomyosin cortex across cell types and substrate stiffness. Integr. Biol. 13, 246–257 (2021).
