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Pharmacology & Chemical Biology Seminar Series
3/31/2022 - 12:00 PM-1:00 PM
"Visualizing biomolecular interactions at single-molecule and single-cell levels"

Ruobo Zhou, PhD
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Penn State, Eberly College of Science

Biomolecular interactions are at the root of all biological processes and define the molecular mechanisms of how these processes are accomplished in both physiological and pathological conditions. Recent advances in single-molecule detection and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy have uncovered many previously unknown properties of biomolecular interactions and revealed the organizational principles governing the compartmentalization of functional biomolecular interactions in cells and how such compartmentalization and organizations become dysregulated in diseases. Using super-resolution imaging to visualize colocalization of signaling proteins on a newly identified membrane-associated periodic skeleton (MPS) that is formed by actin, spectrin, and related proteins in the axons and dendrites of neurons, we found that the neuronal MPS functions as a signaling platform to facilitate the interactions of signaling proteins at the plasma membrane of neurons, which enable the intracellular signaling. Combining mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis and super-resolution imaging, the MPS-interacting proteins, which span diverse functional categories, are further systematically determined, suggesting the new functional roles of the neuronal MPS.
 
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Melanie L Hoffner

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