The video describes the Robinson lab’s research about mechanoresponsiveness, contractility kits (condensates), and their discovery of 4-HAP as a mechano-modulating compound with anti-metastatic activity.
Without cortical actin crosslinker dynacortin, cells fail to polarize properly during chemotaxis. See Kabacoff et al. BMC Biol. 2007 for more information.
Actin waves travel across the surface of a Dictyostelium cell. This work was described in Zhou et al. Curr. Biol. 2010.
Prepared by Johns Hopkins Art as Applied to Medicine masters student Mariya Khan, the video seeks to depict in understandable terms the major design considerations of the mechanosensitive contractile machinery of the dividing cell.
In this video, we describe the Johns Hopkins Initiative for Careers in Science and Medicine (CSM), which develops students (‘scholars’) from disadvantaged backgrounds into successful professionals, especially in the STEM and healthcare fields.
Our Mission!
Video courtesy of KasselLabs.
The movie depicts a stereotypical wild type dividing Dictyostelium cell. The cell is engineered to express GFP-myosin II (green) and RFP-tubulin (red), which markes the mitotic spindle.
Dividing cells are exquisitely sensitive to mechanical stress (Effler et al. Curr. Biol. 2006, Ren et al. Curr. Biol. 2009, and Kee et al. Mol. Biol. Cell 2012).
Every day in the lab is just like this.
Movie created by Hoku West-Foyle.
Please check out our ASCB CellDance Video. In this video, we explain to a general audience our science through live cell imaging. We hope you enjoy it.
This ScIQ video describes the goal of 4-HAP. Animal studies testing 4-HAP in models of metastatic pancreatic cancer are currently underway. ScIQ is the TYT Network’s new Science Channel.
Based on the molecular mechanisms of filamin, cellular concentrations, and force transmission, we are able to explain filamin mechanosensitive accumulation. Please see Luo et al. Nat. Mater. 2013 for more information.
Drawing upon cellular concentrations, applied forces, and the myosin II bipolar thick filament assembly, we can explain myosin II mechanosensitive accumulation. Please see Luo et al. Biophys. J. 2012 and Luo et al. Nat. Mater. 2013 for more information.
This is an electron microscopy tomogram of a Dictyostelium cleavage furrow cortex. This is desribed in detail in Reichl et al. Curr. Biol. 2008.
EM tomogram of a late stage cytokinesis bridge
We used skeletons to track shape changes of wild type chemotaxis. See Kabacoff et al. BMC Biol. 2007 for more information.