We study how cells sense and respond to physical and bioelectrical cues — signals as important as chemical messages but far less understood. Our goal is to uncover the molecular mechanisms that enable cells to detect these physiochemical signals and use this knowledge to engineer cell behavior for therapeutic benefit. We pursue this work in the highly interdisciplinary environment of the BioFrontiers Institute and as part of the Department of Biochemistry at CU Boulder. Our current focus is on bioelectric guidance—how cells navigate in response to natural electric fields, such as those that arise during wound healing. We recently identified Galvanin, a novel electric field sensor in immune cells, revealing a new way that rapidly moving cells integrate electrical cues into migration and signaling. We are combining live-cell imaging, synthetic biology, biophysics, and functional genomics to: 1. Identify and characterize the molecular players in bioelectric sensing and migration. 2. Develop tools to precisely control cell movement in complex environments, with applications in immunotherapy and regenerative medicine. 3. Probe the physical organization and electrochemical properties of the cell membrane to understand how it shapes protein function and cell behavior.
keywords
Directed cell migration, signaling, bioelectricity, and bioengineering
