Mike Pablo
PhD Candidate, Biological Chemistry at UNC – Chapel Hill, Elston & Hahn Labs
Member of the Molecular & Cellular Biophysics Training Program
mikepab@live.unc.edu I’m interested in how signaling networks encode the spatiotemporal organization of molecules within cells. I use image analysis, statistical modeling, and computational simulations, in collaboration with Hahn Lab experimentalists, who perform live cell microscopy and optogenetic experiments, to understand mechanisms that shape molecular distributions over time and space. My main focus is on polarity establishment in yeast and FcgR-mediated phagocytosis in mammalian systems. |
We are interested in characterizing signaling architectures that can form precisely organized structures. We used phagosynapse formation in FcgR-mediated frustrated phagocytosis as a model experimental setup, in which an F-actin ring forms around a IgG patch printed onto a coverslip. To identify signaling motifs compatible with this behavior, we applied an evolutionary algorithm to generate ensembles of reaction-diffusion PDEs capable of mimicking the F-actin ring on a circular domain. Shown are a variety of ring-forming systems. Applying constraints based on experimentally-observed ring formation dynamics, or the distributions of other molecular species, will allow us to refine our system of models, and characterize signaling motifs consistent with phagosynapse formation.