The importance of staying together; a cellular perspective
Deadline: May 18, 2020
Cells are generally not in isolation, but embeded within tissues. Therefore, after every cell division the newly formed cells need to re-establish cell-cell contacts at the nascent interfaces to maintain tissue integrity. This process is critical; the inability to coordinate cell division and cell contact re-establishment can lead to developmental issues including the initial steps of metastasis during cancer progression. Despite its importance in tissue homeostasis, the mechanisms controlling the formation of cell-cell contacts immediately after cell division remain poorly understood.
Large-scale genetic screens have identified regulators of early embryonic developmental processes: mainly cell division, cytoskeleton dynamics and membrane composition/organisation. Following these screens, we will design a comprehensive phenotypic analysis to identify genes involved in cytokinesis, the process that completes cell division. In collaboration with our partner “Intogral” we will perform quantitative image data analyses upon loss of function of the identified cytokinesis regulators. This will help us determine key biomechanical parameters required for contact re-establishment after division. We will use this data to train a computational model to identify early signs of tissue integrity problems. In addition, the molecular characterization of the identified cytokinesis regulators will advance our understanding of the mechanism that coordinate cytokinesis and cell contact re-establishments during embryogenesis.
eLife (2018) 7:e37677; Dev Cell (2017) 42:400; Nat Cell Biol (2013) 15:103
Nat Methods (2018) 15:921; eLife (2018) 7:e36204; Dev Cell (2014) 30:209.
Informal enquiries may be made to josana.rodriguez@ncl.ac.uk
Details here.