Solving the mysteries of bioscience
Foundational Science Fuels Breakthroughs
Inspiring Next-Generation Scientists
string(328) "Multispectral organelle imaging of a human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) and an iPSC-derived neuron (iNeuron). Nuclei, blue; plasma membrane, magenta; endoplasmic reticulum, red; Golgi, yellow; lysosomes, cyan; mitochondria, green; peroxisomes, orange; and lipid droplets, white. Credit: Maria Clara Zanellati"
The Allen Distinguished Investigator program provides three-year grants between $1M and $1.5M to individuals and teams.
Data-driven modeling of inter-organelle dynamic interactions throughout differentiation with multispectral and label free live imaging
These investigators hypothesize that complex and dynamic patterns of organelle connection and communication are distinctive across different cell types, helping to drive the function and physiology of the cell. They will employ machine learning to identify key features of organelle-organelle interactions that affect cell trajectories during stem cell differentiation. They will then test the causal impact of these interactions by artificially tethering organelles together. This project will establish groundbreaking imaging and computational tools with implications for cell engineering.
This project is part of the 2024 Organelle Communication cohort
These researchers will explore a thrilling frontier in cell biology emerging from the discovery that organelles (cellular compartments) can directly connect to each other to exchange materials and information, forming complex and dynamic networks. Much of how these interactions occur remains unknown due to the profound challenges of observing rapid events on a nanometer scale. This cohort will pioneer new tools to directly observe and model the organelle ‘interactome’ across time, space, and cell type. Their findings will expand our understanding of core biological principles, with powerful implications for fields ranging from regenerative medicine to virology.
