Investigating wave morphodynamics in electrically active cell sheets

ORAL

Abstract

Biological systems exhibit many emergent phenomena, from schooling behavior in fish to electrical network dynamics in neurons and cardiomyocytes. On a tissue scale, these collective dynamics often arise in response to changes in the extracellular and intracellular environment. In this talk, we describe the collective signaling of HEK293T/17 cells modified to express sodium and potassium ion channels such that they form electrically-active monolayers. We investigate the collective firing dynamics across multiple spatio-temporal scales in these cell sheets in a highly-controlled fashion in order to understand the emergence of various, driven electrical wave morphologies and propagation dynamics. To accomplish this goal, we apply electrical and optical perturbations utilizing a novel optical system—a Multi-Scale Microscope—that allows for simultaneous imaging across two different spatial scales using epifluorescence and rescan confocal imaging techniques.

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Presenters

  • Phillip Alvarez

    University of Maryland, College Park, Institute of Physical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Biophysics, University of Maryland, College Park

Authors

  • Phillip Alvarez

    University of Maryland, College Park, Institute of Physical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Biophysics, University of Maryland, College Park

  • Sylvester J Gates III

    Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park

  • Samira Aghayee

    University of Maryland, College Park, Institute of Physical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Biophysics, University of Maryland, College Park

  • Kate M O'Neill

    Institute of Physical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland, College Park

  • Gabriel Frank

    Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

  • Wolfgang Losert

    University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, Institute of Physical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Physics, University of Maryland,College Park, Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Physics, University of Maryland-College Park, IREAP, IPST, University of Maryland, College Park, Departments of Physics, IPST and IREAP, University of Maryland, College Park