Activating the Nuclear Piston to Generate Intracellular Pressure During 3D Cancer Cell Migration

Friday, January 29, 2016

4:00 PM-5:30 PM

BIOMED Seminar

Speaker:
Ryan Petrie, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
Drexel University

Details:
Even when we are standing still, the cells in our bodies are going places. It is now clear that an individual cell can change how it moves in response to thematerial surrounding it. My lab is interested in understanding how the structure of the three-dimensional (3D) extracellular matrix dictates the molecular and physical mechanisms driving cell motility. For example, we recently discovered human fibroblasts moving through a cross-linked 3D matrix pull their nucleus forward like a piston to increase intracellular pressure and drive protrusion of the leading edge.

Using a variety of biochemical, biophysical, and live cell imaging approaches, the Petrie lab aims to understand how intracellular pressure is controlled by actomyosin contractility in migrating cells in response to matrix structure. Further, we will seek to establish if the intracellular pressure generation machinery in metastatic cells is abnormal compared to primary fibroblasts and test the hypothesis that defective pressure regulation promotes cancer cell invasion into 3D extracellular matrix

Biosketch:
Ryan Petrie, PhD, received a BS in biochemistry from the University of Victoria in 1997, a MS in immune cell signaling from the University of Calgaryin 2002, and a PhD in cell biology from McGill University in 2008. He recently completed a research fellowship with the Laboratory of Cell and Developmental Biology in the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research on the NIH campus.

Contact Information

Ken Barbee
215-895-1335
barbee@drexel.edu