Wendy Gordon (University of Minnesota): Molecular tension sensors to probe altered forces in dystrophic cells and for high-throughput measurements of cellular mechanotype
Title: Molecular tension sensors to probe altered forces in dystrophic cells and for high-throughput measurements
Speaker: Wendy Gordon, University of Minnesota
Hosted by: Arpita Upadhyaya
Abstract:
Mechanical forces regulate critical cell dynamics, and are often dysregulated in disease. Molecular tension sensors have emerged to measure picoNewton forces sensed by individual mechanosensing protein in the context of the cell. We will describe a genetically-encoded molecular tension sensor based on bioluminescence that we used to probe how muscular dystrophy associated mutations alter cellular tensions in myoblasts. We will also describe a new high- throughput DNA-based tension sensor that can be used to readout cumulative cellular tensions using flow cytometry and DNA sequencing.