Patterning the microtubule cytoskeleton during development

19 Mar 2021

Jessica Feldman
Department of Biology
Stanford University

zoom recording

Abstract

Underlying the complexity of the human body is the ability of our cells to adopt diverse forms and functions. This process of cell differentiation requires cells to polarize, translating developmental information into cell-type specific arrangements of intracellular structures. The major goal of the research in my laboratory is to understand how cells build these functional intracellular patterns during development, specifically focusing on the molecules and mechanisms that build microtubules at cell-type specific locations and the polarity cues that guide this patterning. I will discuss our most recent research using C. elegans to better understand the biology of microtubule organizing centers, the specific cellular sites that build and organize microtubules. We have developed novel genetic and proteomic tools, including tissue specific degradtion and more efficient proximity labeling techniques, to idenify the mechanisms underlying microtubule organization in differentiated and dividing cells in intact organisms. I will also present our preliminiary studies to uncover symmetry breaking cues in epithelial tissues, focusing how cell-cell contact can provide asymmetric information to cells and tissues within a developing organ.

current theory lunch schedule