NARILIS lunch seminar | Francesca BOTTANELLI, Freie Universität Berlin

We are pleased to invite you to a seminar given by

Prof. Dr. Francesca BOTTANELLI, PhD

Assistant Professor and Group leader at Institut für Biochemie, Freie Universität Berlin

Investigating cellular logistics with live-cell STED super-resolution microscopy

In the lab we use gene editing and live-cell super-resolution microscopy to investigate the mechanisms of membrane homeostasis in health and disease. To be able to image physiological molecular processes in the crowded cellular cytoplasm in living cells, we developed labelling methods for stimulated emission depletion (STED) super-resolution imaging in living cells and a pipeline for the rapid generation of CRISPR-Cas9 knock ins. These methods unlocked the possibility to image dynamics at sub-50 nm spatial resolution and under near-native cellular conditions. Dynamic nanoscale microscopy of endogenously tagged machinery is revealing novel cellular roles for ARF GTPases, one of the major family of regulators of cellular membrane homeostasis. Defining the role of ARFs led to the discovery of unexplored sorting mechanisms between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. We show that bi-directional transport between the ER and the Golgi apparatus occur via a dynamic and quickly remodelling network of connecting nano-tunnels. In a similar way, Golgi-derived sorting tubules serve as a sorting station between Golgi and endo-lysosomal organelles to coordinate secretory and lysosomal trafficking via kiss and run events.

Invited by Prof. Henri-François Renard, UNamur, URBC