Northwestern Events Calendar

Apr
26
2018

Professor Jennifer Ross: Transient Crosslinkers Tune the Patterns of Microtubule Filaments

When: Thursday, April 26, 2018
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CT

Where: Technological Institute, F160, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 map it

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Contact: Tina Hoff   (847) 491-3645

Group: Physics and Astronomy Complex Systems Seminars

Category: Academic

Description:

Professor Jennifer Ross, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Title: Transient Crosslinkers Tune the Patterns of Microtubule Filaments

Abstract: The cell is a complex autonomous machine taking in information, performing computations, and responding to the environment. To enable agile read/write capabilities, much of the molecular biochemistry that performs these computations must be transient and weak, allowing signals to be carried as a function of the concentration of numerous and coupled interactions. Traditionally, biochemical experiments can only measure strongly interacting systems that can last for long times in dilute concentrations. We have developed microscopy measurements to enable to visualization of weak, transient interactions and the resulting emergent behaviors of coupled systems. I will present excerpts from stories where many weak, transient interactions can have strong repercussions on the overall activity and can, in fact, overpower strongly interacting systems. These studies involve the microtubule cytoskeleton and the transport motor, kinesin-1. Our results reveal a fundamentally important aspect of cellular self-organization: weak, transient interacting species can tune their interaction strength directly by tuning the local concentration to act like a rheostat. The tunability of weak, transient interactions is a fundamental activity of biological systems, and our insights will ultimately enable us to learn how to engineer these systems to create biological or biomimetic devices.

Host: Michelle Driscoll

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