Date : 06/01/2012

Internship proposal for : Master 1 or Master 2

Laboratory
Institut Curie
UMR 168 CNRS
11, rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris
Website
Main discipline : Biophysics
Lab director : Jean-François Joanny

Mentor
Timo Betz
email : Cet e-mail est protégé contre les robots collecteurs de mails, votre navigateur doit accepter le Javascript pour le voir
phone : +33 1 56 24 67 89

Subjects
1.: Mechanics of cancer cell migration
2.: Membrane tension and growth dynamics
3.: Bleb formation in cancer cells

Tools and methodologies
1.: Optical tweezers
2.: Membrane fluctuation analysis
3.: Mechanics of the cytoskeleton

Summary of lab's interests
We are interested in the mechanics of cell motility and cellular shape changes. We use biomimetic systems, modern optical tools such as optical tweezers and nanosurgery and advanced motion detection methods to study the mechanical properties of cells such a s red blood cells, cancer cells and biomimetic systems that reconstitute an actin cortex.

Summary of project
The idea of the project is to study the bleb formation in a modified breast cancer cell type M2. These cells do not have a actin crosslinking protein called filamin and as a consequence they show membrane blebs, while being fully alive. The dynamics and the mechanical properties of these blebs are interesting as a model system for the more complex blebbing like motility which is found in many cancer cells, ameaba and leukocytes. The idea of the project is to use a newly developed optical technique that measures the movement of the forming bleb with high precision. This does later allow to determine the membrane tension during the growth of the bleb and to record the mechanical changes while the actin cortex is reforming and contracting using molecular motors (myosin). The project will aim to close a gap in our current understanding of how exactly the blebs are driven and how their dynamics is controlled in vivo. The candidate should be interested in physical methods in cell biology and ideally have some experience in cell culture.