Distinct and collective roles of different cytoskeletal machineries in cells

My laboratory investigates roles of the actin cytoskeleton in various cellular activities, such as cell motility, morphogenesis, cell shape determination, cell-cell interactions and membrane organelle dynamics. Our distinctive approach toward this goal is to use platinum replica electron microscopy (PREM) to determine high resolution structure of the cytoskeleton and combine it with more conventional approaches to study dynamics of the cell, cellular organelles, or specific proteins. I will present our recent and new findings on (i) the role of microtubules in regulating assembly of branched actin networks, (ii) cytoskeletal mechanisms of clathrin-mediated endocytosis and (iii) cooperation of different paralogs of nonmuscle myosin II during assembly of the cellular contractile system.