There are a bewildering variety of chemical processes and mechanical forces at play in a single living cell. While much remains to be learned, progress has been made in determining which molecules within cells trigger specific biochemical reactions.
Researchers refer to the components of these biochemical systems as “modules.” Meanwhile, mechanical forces and the molecular signals a cell uses to regulate them remain relatively unexplored.
Now, a team of researchers — Adriana Dawes (Ohio State University), Matthew Ferguson (Boise State University), Dinah Loerke (University of Denver) and Megan Valentine (University of California, Santa Barbara) — will attempt to discover at least a few mechanical modules by focusing on a specific system of broad interest: epithelial cell extrusion in Botryllus schlosseri, also known as the sea squirt.
This research team was formed through the Moore Foundation and Research Corporation for Science Advancement's conference Scialog: Molecules Come to Life, in which five team research proposals were selected to focus on convergence science at the intersection of physics and biology to address the need for a more quantitative, theory-based understanding of complex biological phenomena.
Read the full article here, and an announcement about the Scialog winners here.
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