Bioinformatics Commons^™

Analysis Of Mechanics And Dynamics Of Biopolymers In Living Cells, Shubham Agrawal, Peter D. Russel, Abdel-Rahman Hassan, Taeyoon Kim

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

F-actin polymers in the cytoskeleton provide mechanical strength and deformability to cells. Thus, understanding their dynamic responses to intracellular and extracellular cues is of critical importance for studying the biological and mechanical behaviors of cells. Unfortunately, to date, no computer software can provide researchers with adequate means to measure these responses since in vivo F-actin cytoskeleton is quite dynamic and complex unlike in vitro actin networks. We aim at developing a tool which would allow researchers to semi-automatically analyze time-lapse microscope images of these F-actin polymers and thus evaluate the length and stochastic dynamics of F-actins (filament elongation, shrinkage and …