Lab News
Frank Mason publishes Nature Cell Biology paper
Congratulations to postdoc, Frank Mason, for the recent publication of his paper, “Apical domain polarization promotes actin-myosin assembly to drive ratchet-like apical constriction” on Nature Cell Biology. In the paper, Mason et al. show that the signals that regulate contractile forces in constricting cells exhibit a spatial organization within the apical domain of the cell. Signals that activate myosin motors are polarized to the center of the apical domain. Actin polymerization in this domain suppresses junctional protein localization, restricting junctional proteins to cell-cell interfaces. Thus, a “radial” cell polarity is established, which is shown to be important for apical constriction.
Welcome Natalie Heer
Biology graduate student, Natalie Heer, joins the lab. Natalie received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University where she worked in the Reck-Peterson lab on dynein motility.
Mimi Xie Passed Qualifying Exam
Congratulations to graduate student, Mimi Xie, on passing her qualifying exam.
Claudia Vasquez Passed Qualifying Exam!
Congratulations to graduate student, Claudia Vasquez, on passing her qualifying exam.
Soline Chanet awarded EMBO Long-Term Fellowship!
Congratulations to postdoc, Soline Chanet, for being awarded an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship.
Mimi Xie publishes MBoC paper
Congratulations Mimi Xie for publishing her work “Loss of Gα12/13 Exacerbates Apical Area-dependence of Actomyosin Contractility” in Molecular Biology of the Cell! Mimi showed how apical actin density can depend on apex size. Suppressing this dependence is important to coordinate contractility across a tissue.
Jeanne Jodoin publishes MBoC paper
Congratulations Jeanne Jodoin for publishing her work “Abl Suppresses Cell Extrusion and Intercalation During Epithelium Folding” in Molecular Biology of the Cell! Jeanne showed how the Abelson tyrosine kinase suppresses an EMT-like cell extrusion during tissue folding.
Hannah Yevick awarded NIH F32 fellowship
Congratulations to Dr. Hannah Yevick for being awarded a prestigious NIH fellowship.
Welcome Marlis Denk-Lobnig
Biology student Marlis Denk-Lobnig joins the lab. Marlis did her undergraduate work at Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany. Marlis is interested in applying computational approaches to studying signaling networks in an embryo.
Adam Martin promoted to Associate Professor
Adam Martin has been promoted to Associate Professor, effective July 1, 2016.
Jeanne Jodin publishes Developmental Cell paper
Congratulations Jeanne Jodin, for publishing her work “Stable Force Balance between Epithelial Cells Arises from F-Actin Turnover” in Developmental Cell. Jeanne showed that stable force balance between cells in a tissue requires robust actin filament turnover. The paper was also highlighted by the journal. Read the paper and the highlight article.
Congratulations Dr. Xie
Mimi Xie successfully defended her thesis. She gave an excellent seminar to our community. Nice job Mimi!
Hannah Yevick Wins Nano-K 2015 Thesis Prize
Congratulations Hannah Yevick, for winning the Nano-K 2015 Thesis Prize for interdisciplinary research. This is a national award in France for excellent PhD theses that cross disciplines.