Department Cell Biology
Principal investigator Kerstin Wendt
E-mail address k.wendt@erasmusmc.nl
Website https://www.erasmusmc.nl/en/research/researchers/wendt-kerstin
Migration of developing neuronal cells in brain organoids
This project is a collaboration with the group of Debbie van den Berg and will be performed under supervision Kerstin Wendt at the Erasmus MC and the Optical Imaging Center of the Erasmus MC.
We want to understand how neuronal development differs between healthy cells and cells haploinsufficient for NIPBL, an important regulator of the cohesin complex that is frequently mutated in a human developmental syndrome.
For this we have established brain organoids that contain both cell types. A very small fraction of both cell types is either labelled with mcherry of efgp, allowing us to image the migration of these cells in the organoid.
For this project we look for a student to establish tracking of those cells to identify differences in the behavior. The challenge is to identify the cells, track them over time and describe the tracks. Depending on the background and preferences of the student, this project can be a BEP or a MEP project. A MEP project would also include working with the cell cultures and imaging.
Techniques
- Image analysis
- Eventually organid culture and imaging
Interactions of the cohesin regulator NIPBL with chromatin regulators
This project is a collaboration between the labs of Kerstin Wendt (supervisor) and the Erasmus MC and the Optical Imaging Center of the Erasmus MC.
We have identified several chromatin regulators that interact with the cohesin-regulator NIPBL. Several highly interesting regulators are very difficult to address with biochemistry methods. Therefore, we want to study their interaction with NIPBL using immunostaining of cells and correlation of the signals, eg. test whether the proteins colocalize throughout the entire cells cycle or not. Further, we will interfere with functions of NIPBL and test whether this changes the colocalization pattern.
Techniques
- The project is a combination of cell culture, imaging and image analysis
Loop extrusion by cohesin in live cells
Supervisor: Kerstin Wendt, k.wendt@erasmusmc.nl
Contact us if you are curious.
Further reading
DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2023.07.024