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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
NEW DATE: Cells respond to their physical environment and to chemical stimuli in terms of collective molecular interactions that are regulated in time and space. Small molecules may engage specific receptors to initiate a transmembrane signal, and the system amplifies this nanoscale interaction to microscale assemblies within the cell and often to longer length scales involving surrounding tissue and ultimately the whole organism. A striking example of signal integration over multiple length scales is the allergic immune response. IgE receptors (FcεRI) on mast cells are the gate keepers of this response, and this system has proven to be a valuable model for investigating receptor-mediated cellular activation. Clustering of IgE receptors on the cell surface, typically by a multivalent ligand (antigen), causes their phosphorylation within membrane compartments. This initiates intracellular signaling leading to multiple responses, including Ca2+ mobilization followed by degranulation to release mediators of allergies and inflammation. My talk will describe our efforts to develop quantitative fluorescence microscopy and other tools for examining interactions of cellular components at increasingly higher levels of resolution, with the goal of elucidating the spatial orchestration of dynamic cell signaling processes on the length scales at which they occur.
Host: Bill Hlavacek