Abbi's first author publication accepted at Molecular Biology of the Cell!

by Heidi Hehnly in ,

Congrats to lead author and Hehnly Lab graduate student Abrar (Abbi) Aljiboury on the acceptance of her study titled “Pericentriolar matrix (PCM) integrity relies on cenexin and Polo-Like Kinase (PLK)1” at Molecular Biology of the Cell. This work was a collaborative study between Hehnly Lab post baccalaureates Amra Mujcic and Erin Curtis, undergraduates Denise Magny and Thomas Cammerino, graduate student Yiling Lan, the Blatt imaging center manager Mike Bates, Hehnly Lab manager Judy Freshour, and Biology faculty member Yasir Ahmed-Braimeh. This study examined PLK1 activity and its association with maintaining the functional and physical properties of the centrosome's pericentriolar matrix (PCM). Here, Abbi and colleagues use a multimodal approach of human cells (HeLa), zebrafish embryos, and phylogenic analysis to test the role of a PLK1 binding protein, cenexin, in regulating the PCM. Their studies identify that cenexin is required for tempering microtubule nucleation by maintaining PCM cohesion in a PLK1 dependent manner. PCM architecture in cenexin-depleted zebrafish embryos was rescued with wild-type human cenexin, but not with a C-terminal cenexin mutant (S796A) deficient in PLK1 binding. They propose a model where cenexin's C-terminus acts in a conserved manner in eukaryotes, excluding nematodes and arthropods, to sequester PLK1 that limits PCM substrate phosphorylation events required for PCM cohesion.

Cenexin is needed for PCM cohesion. (A) Metaphase HeLa cells mitotic centrosomes labeled for centrosome markers: centrin, cenexin, Cep192, Pericentrin, Cep215 and γ-tubulin (Fire LUT) and MT marker, α-tubulin (grey). Control shRNA (top) and cenexin shRNA (bottom) treated cells shown. Scale bar, 5 μm. (B-F) Representative scatter plots depicting two-dimensional areas (μm2) of centrin (B), Cep192 (C), Pericentrin (D), Cep215 (E) and γ-tubulin (F) in control and cenexin shRNA treated metaphase cells. Mean with 95% confidence intervals shown. Unpaired, two-tailed Student’s t-tests, n.s. not significant, ***p<0.001, ****p<0.0001. (G) Control shRNA (top) and cenexin shRNA (bottom) metaphase cell projection. Centrin (grey), Cep215 (magenta) and DNA (DAPI, cyan) shown. Insets magnified 3x from G’ and G”. Scale bar, 5 μm. (H) Model depicting representative centrosome protein outline from a single representative mitotic centrosome reflecting changes resulting from cenexin-loss. Mean 2-dimensional areas (μm2) ±SD are provided.

CHIMERA- Syracuse University's first Bio-Art Show

by Heidi Hehnly in , , , ,

I'm so excited to help out with this Bio-Art show with Boryana Rossa and our fabulous students. If you are in the Syracuse Area, come check it out.

CHIMERA:

This exhibition features finished works and works in progress that have been made by students and artists who utilize techniques and knowledge from the field of biological sciences, apply discussion from humanities and look for visual and textual expression that comes from the arts.

During the global pandemic, the need for an integrated approach to education that includes both art and science has become imperative for fighting collective distrust in science. Our attempt is to create widely accessible view of the work done in scientific labs and open discussion about its social importance that comes from both sciences and the arts.

While taking the bio-art class the students, who have scientific or artistic backgrounds, studied examples of bio-art, had hands-on experience with microscopy and other biological techniques, and discussed their work reaching beyond their disciplines. The works in the exhibition present varieties of topics, starting with self-portraits, portraits of ecological systems, visual exploration of macro and micro worlds, ethical and personal exploration of the role of the scientist in the society, and the body as a political arena.

Guest artists are presented with signature and award-winning works. Jennifer Willet looks at the topic of co-existence, play and collaboration of human and microbial worlds, Paul Vanouse reflects upon industrial society’s shift from human and machine labor to forms of microbial manufacturing, and Adam Zaretsky presents “The Errorarium,” a device for exploring the gamification of the forced genetic errors that may appear in chamber-grown botanica.

CIMERA is part of the programming of the Bio-Art Mixer, where art and life sciences meet, faculty and grads share their research or look at it from the perspective of a different discipline. Initiated by Heidi Hehnly, Ph.D. Biology, SU; Boryana Rossa Ph.D. FMA.

Supported by CUSE Seed Grant, Department of Film and Media Arts and Department of Biology.

Cool new collaborative paper with the Patteson lab!

by Heidi Hehnly in

Check out the paper from Maxx and the Patteson Lab (Physics, SU) here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34995457/

Titled: Vimentin intermediate filaments mediate cell shape on visco-elastic substrates.

You can also find it on BioRxiv here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.07.286237v1.full

Representative images of wild-type (vim +/+) and vimentin-null (vim -/-) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (mEF) on glass slides. Wild-type and vimentin-null mEFs show similar distributions of F-actin stress fibers and paxillin focal adhesions. Confocal images show vimentin (yellow), actin (blue), paxillin (green) and the nucleus (pink). Scale bar, 10 μm.