Dictyostelium Discoideum Dictyostelium Discoideum Movement in - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Dictyostelium Discoideum Dictyostelium Discoideum Movement in Electric Fields Eric Kim Advisor: Dr. Wolfgang Losert S Supervisor: Can Guven i C G

Why we study cell movement “Dicty” cells migrating on a glass surface • Cell migration is important in: • Wound Healing • Cancer metastasis •“Dicty” is a model organism: • Experiment goal: • To create an apparatus for controlling cell movement and membrane shape via an externally e b a e s ape a a e te a y applied electric field. 10x magnification Cell diameter: ~15um

Salt bridge E. Field Cells Buffer reservoir Apparatus

A Metric for Cell Movement r Directness:  v   r 1 n     i i cos( ( ) ) v i  1  n Cell r r r  ) where n is the number of cells where n is the number of cells  E  v cos(

Cells are Directed by E. Fields Cell Response to 4V/cm Field Cells Without Field Field Applied Field Applied ss ss Directnes Directnes Time(sec) Time(sec)

Conclusions and Future Work • Apparatus successfully demonstrates movement via electric field. • Directness appears to increase with prolonged field exposure field exposure. • In the future, we would like to use different potential gradients and improve the apparatus by strengthening the E. field. Much thanks to Dr. Losert, Meghan Driscoll, Can Guven, and Colin McCann