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Al-Dam, N.

Publications and source records attributed to Al-Dam, N..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PRISM: A Plasmid-based Reporter for Intracellular Spectral Microscopy

Organelles form an interconnected network whose morphology, positioning and interactions reflect cellular state. However, reproducibly quantifying these organelle phenotypes across large cell populations and diverse cell types remains a significant challenge. Here we present PRISM (Plasmid-based Reporter for Intracellular Spectral Microscopy), a PiggyBac-integrable construct encoding five unique fluorescent organelle reporters for spectral microscopy, with an accompanying modular analysis pipeline. PRISM stably labels the Golgi, peroxisomes, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria and lysosomes in multiple cell types while remaining compatible with additional molecular or functional probes. The workflow extracts over 500 metrics per cell, describing organelle morphology and distribution alongside pairwise and higher-order contacts. We use PRISM to characterise organelle responses to cytoskeletal perturbation, map PI(4)P redistribution during lysosomal damage, and reveal how Zika virus remodels the organelle landscape during infection. PRISM provides a reproducible approach for investigating organelle network remodelling across biological contexts

cell biology↗

Emergent oscillations during cellular directional decision-making on junctions

Motile cells inside living tissues often encounter junctions, where their path branches into several alternative directions of migration. We present a theoretical model of cellular polarization for cells migrating along one-dimensional lines, arriving at a symmetric Y-junction and extending protrusions along the different paths that emanate from the junction. The model predicts the spontaneous emergence of deterministic oscillations between competing protrusions, whereby the cellular polarization and growth alternates between the competing protrusions. The oscillations are modified by cellular noise, but remain as a dominant feature which affects the time it takes the cell to migrate across the junction. These predicted oscillations in the cellular polarization during the directional decision making process at the junction are found experimentally for two different cell types, non-cancerous endothelial and cancerous glioma cells, migrating on patterned network of thin adhesive lanes with junctions.

biophysics↗