The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Ph.D., group leader, Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Speaker bio(s)

Emerging visualization technologies are playing an increasingly important role in the study of numerous aspects of cell biology, capturing processes at the level of whole organisms down to single molecules. While developments in probes and microscopes are dramatically expanding the areas of productive imaging, there are still significant roadblocks. Primary challenges include: (1) fluorophore bleed-through, which limits the number of fluorophores that can be simultaneously imaged; (2) imaging speeds that are too slow; and (3) labeling densities that are too low for deciphering fine subcellular architecture. Here, Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz will discuss new imaging methods that can overcome these roadblocks, focusing on their potential for clarifying subcellular organelle dynamics. To surmount fluorophore bleed-through, Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz’s laboratory combined excitation-based spectral unmixing and lattice light sheet microscopy to visualize up to six organelles (i.e., ER, Golgi, mitochondria, lysosomes, peroxisomes, and lipid droplets) simultaneously within cells. This allowed them to track these organelles through time and analyze their inter-organelle contacts. To increase temporal resolution during imaging, they employed total internal reflection fluorescence combined with structured illumination microscopy to visualize organelle dynamics at very high temporal-spatial resolution. Examining the ER, Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz’s laboratory observed that many peripheral ER sheets seen using diffraction-limited imaging are actually highly perforated structures comprised of tightly latticed groups of dynamic tubules. Within the latticed ER tubule meshwork, subdiffraction-limited holes were observed (~150–250 nm diameter) having transient life spans (~250 msec). Viewed at higher resolution using lattice light sheet microscopy combined with point accumulation for nanoscale topology (PAINT), the peripheral ER sheets represented a complex meshwork of tightly cross-linked ER tubules. Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz will discuss possible roles this complex ER structural organization has for diverse cellular functions. 

 

Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz's research uses live cell imaging approaches to analyze the spatiotemporal behavior and dynamic interactions of molecules and organelles in cells. Her laboratory has pioneered the use of green fluorescent protein (GFP) technology for quantitative analysis and modeling of intracellular protein traffic and organelle biogenesis in live cells and embryos, providing novel insights into cell compartmentalization, protein trafficking, and organelle inheritance. Her research has focused on the development and use of photoactivatable fluorescent proteins, which “switch on” in response to light. One application of these proteins she helped co-develop is photoactivated localization microscopy (i.e., PALM), a super-resolution imaging technique that enables visualization of molecule distributions at high density at the nanoscale.

 

Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1986. She did her postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Klausner and served as chief of the Section on Organelle Biology in the Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the NIH until 2016. She is currently a group leader at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

 

She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Society of Histochemistry Feulgen Prize (2001), the Royal Microscopy Society Pearse Prize (2010), and the Newcomb Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2014–2015).

Open to

Public

Host

Sanford Simon, Ph.D.

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Linda Hanssler

Phone

(212) 327-7714

Sponsor

Linda Hanssler
(212) 327-7714
lhanssler@rockefeller.edu

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=4066