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Research

How are cellular behaviors coordinated by just a handful of signal transduction pathways to construct something as complex as a human being? The Wilson lab focuses on engineering precise control over these pathways to understand their design principles and direct cell behaviors. Our lab's main technology is cellular optogenetics, which harnesses a natural cell process of light activation to learn about the complex spatial and temporal organization of a cell. By harnessing naturally evolved photo-switchable molecules from plants and algae and combining these optogenetic proteins and proteins of interest in cellular pathways, we can obtain precise control with the flick of a switch.

We value a highly interdisciplinary approach to research. Thus we aim to recruit and train outstanding scientists from diverse fields – biochemistry, cell biology, developmental biology, signal processing, synthetic biology, engineering, physics, chemistry. 

 

Synthetic Biology Tools

Cover of ACS Biomaterials
Pictured here is an OptoGel, a collagen hydrogel decorated with light-activatable proteins (opto-proteins). The OptoGel serves as a material that encompasses both the biochemical and mechanical relevance of a native extracellular environment.

Biomolecular Phase Separation

Figure S7 from Highlighted Publication
Activation of Opto-GSK3 Increases Centrosomal Condensate Partitioning. Zoomed in still taken from a video of Opto-GSK3 cells stimulated with blue light throughout indicated timecourse.

Gastruloid Morphospace

Image of 2D Gastruloid
2D Gastruloid – A micropattered, stem cell model of the developing human embryo used by our lab to reveal the failure modes of human gastrulation

Integrated Stress Response

Cover of Cell Systems
Artistic illustration of the cellular stress response terrain, showing the connection between prior and subsequent stress experiences. In this issue, Batjargal et al. (p. 551–562) develop an ontogenetic tool to virtually stress cells through direct activation of the integrated stress response (ISR) without exposing the cells to stressors.