2014年学术报告之二十二_利用激光排列和成像复合系统研究肌原纤维重构

发表于 2014-12-05 12:05

题目：Laser Cell Patterning/Imaging-Hybrid System for Studying Myofibril Remodeling

时间：2014年11月28日（周五）上午10点

地点：光电工程学院多功能厅

报告人：Bruce Z. Gao, PhD（Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University）

主持人：邵永红 教授

欢迎感兴趣的师生参加！

Abstract:

Myofibrils, a long chain composed of end-to-end connected, continuously contracting sarcomeres (the basic contractile unit of heart muscles) remodel in response to stimuli through sarcomeric addition or disassociation during heart contraction. Little is known about how the remodeling process occurs in these crystal-like myofibrils. Study of the dynamic sarcomeric-addition process is essential to understanding fundamental cardiology and critical in advancing heart-disease treatment: Sarcomeric addition is the basic process of cardiac hypertrophy, an increase in heart-muscle mass. Our long-term goal is to reveal why physiological hypertrophy (e.g., caused by exercise) improves heart function but pathological hypertrophy (e.g., caused by high blood pressure) leads to heart failure, which currently remains largely unknown. Due to the multicellular nature of the heart tissue, progress in development of new knowledge on the mechanisms of sarcomeric addition is heavily dependent on cell culture. Investigation of sarcomeric addition is currently hindered because: 1) There is no appropriate cardiomyocyte-culture model in which sarcomeric addition in existing myofibrils may occur under simulated stimuli; and 2) There is no applicable imaging tool for a 3D time-lapse recording of a contracting myofibril to capture the sarcomeric-addition process. To address these issues, here I discuss development of a laser cell-patterning and multiphoton confocal hybrid system: Using this system, we plan to connect adult cardiomyocytes end-to-end to create an in vivo-like cardiomyocyte culture and use the second-harmonic-generation (SHG) component of the system to monitor live sarcomeric addition. I will demonstrate a static strain-stimulated sarcomeric-addition model for the study of how new elements might be added to a heart muscle cell’s contractile structure, which is mostly crystalline and constrained by mechanical stress exerted by the heart.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Dr. Gao’s Bio:

Dr. Bruce Z. Gao received his BS degree in Physical Electronics and Optoelectronics in 1985 and his MS degree in Applied Laser Physics in 1988 both from Tianjin University, China. He received his PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Miami in 1999, followed a three-year post-doctoral training in cell and tissue engineering at the University of Minnesota. He is currently an associated professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Clemson University. His long-term research goal is to understand the mechanisms used by various cell types to form a functional tissue. To achieve this goal, he has been focusing his research on microfabrication, laser cell micromanipulation, coherent light and nonlinear optics-based 3D imaging and multiscale modeling to explore cell-cell interactions in an engineered microenvironment, such as a biochip. His current research projects include: 1) Single neuron-based cell biochip for the investigation of developmental neurotoxicity (NIH INBRE); 2) Electrical and mechanical coupling between cardiogenic bone-marrow stem cells and cardiac cells (NIH R01 and COBRE; AHA); 3) Laser microbeam and microfluidics hybrid, high throughput and label-free cell sorting (NSF MRI); and 4) Coherence and nonlinear optics-based 3D microscopies (NSF SC GEAR).