Amro Ghachim
Research Mentor: Qiong Yang
Mentor Department: Biophysics, LSA
Author(s): Not Available
Session: Session 7 (4:00 PM – 4:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 81
Abstract
Cells must coordinate the cell cycle with precise accuracy, and failure of this control is at the heart of many health problems, such as cancer, therapy resistance, and age-related senescence, when cells divide. We are studying how the cytoplasmic properties like density and the Cdk1 network can be the gatekeepers that set thresholds, hysteresis and timing for the robust oscillations in the cell cycle. Our lab wants to know if the cell cycle is able to remain in sync with the changing conditions, in particular. To test this, our hypothesis for a simplified ODE model is to take Franco’s density-coupled Cdk1 oscillator, and combine it with the Cheng & Ferrell self-organization background, without lots of patchwork fixes. To determine the effectiveness of this model we could try to see the oscillations for different parameters, check the conditions where the oscillations fail and see how accurately it fits the period of the oscillations. One plan is to repeat dilution and concentration experiments in Xenopus droplets, and we are switching to filtrate instead of extract buffer, so we can test whether the response is more monotonic. If the data aligns with our expectations, our main conclusion will be that this reduced model can capture robust Cdk1 oscillations without so many extra assumptions. Using filtrate-based experiments would then give us a concrete platform to study how cytoplasmic viscosity and crowding tune timing, robustness, and memory in Xenopus droplets.
