Nanofabulous Seminar: Unveiling the Impact of Nanoscale Membrane Deformation in Cells
Cell membranes serve as a central platform to host a variety of proteins essential for cellular activities such as cell signaling, morphogenesis, and membrane trafficking. At the same time, the membranes also undergo drastic morphological changes in a number of essential processes, such as endocytosis, intracellular trafficking, and cytokinesis, etc.
An intriguing yet challenging question to answer is whether and how the shapes of the membrane impact the dynamics of membrane proteins or the periphery proteins interacting with the membrane.
However, membrane shape changes often happen at sub-micro to the nanoscale, which is approaching the limit of conventional microscopy imaging resolution and difficult to examine quantitatively. In this talk, I will introduce our efforts in employing vertically aligned nanostructures to generate defined membrane topography in live cells and in vitro. We will discuss our findings on the membrane curvature-guided accumulation of membrane proteins, including oncogenic Ras proteins and viral proteins. In addition to plasma membrane, we also explore the nanoscale topography guidance on nuclear membrane and its implication in differentiating malignant cancer cells. We envision more new insights would be revealed by bridging advanced nanotechnology to nanoscale dynamics at cell membrane.
Dr. Wenting Zhao
School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
11:00am, 14/07/2025
Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication
151 Wellington Road, Clayton, 3168
Zoom link: click here
Meeting ID: 836 5781 3944 passcode: 303563
