Gleb Shtengel

Bio: Gleb Shtengel is an academic researcher from Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The author has contributed to research in topics: Semiconductor laser theory & Laser. The author has an hindex of 27, co-authored 79 publications receiving 4947 citations. Previous affiliations of Gleb Shtengel include Bell Labs & Agere Systems.

Nanoscale architecture of integrin-based cell adhesions

Abstract: The physical linkage between the extracellular matrix and the actin cytoskeleton of a cell is made by structures known as focal adhesions, acting through integrin receptors. They are of fundamental importance in human physiology because they mediate cell adhesion, mechanosensing and signalling for the control of cell growth and differentiation. The molecular architecture of focal adhesions has now been determined using three-dimensional super-resolution fluorescence microscopy to map protein organization at the nanoscale level. They are revealed as well-organized ultrastructures in which integrins and actin are separated by a 40-nanometre-long core consisting of partially overlapping protein-specific layers, spanned by talin tethers. The multilaminar architecture creates three or more separate compartments that mediate the interdependent functions of focal adhesions. Focal adhesions link the extracellular matrix by integrin receptors to cytoplasmic actin filaments and are fundamental to human physiology. These authors determine the molecular architecture of focal adhesions by mapping protein organization at the nanoscale level. The results demonstrate that focal adhesions possess a well-organized ultrastructure made up of at least three spatial and functional compartments that mediate their interdependent functions. Cell adhesions to the extracellular matrix (ECM) are necessary for morphogenesis, immunity and wound healing1,2. Focal adhesions are multifunctional organelles that mediate cell–ECM adhesion, force transmission, cytoskeletal regulation and signalling1,2,3. Focal adhesions consist of a complex network4 of trans-plasma-membrane integrins and cytoplasmic proteins that form a <200-nm plaque5,6 linking the ECM to the actin cytoskeleton. The complexity of focal adhesion composition and dynamics implicate an intricate molecular machine7,8. However, focal adhesion molecular architecture remains unknown. Here we used three-dimensional super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (interferometric photoactivated localization microscopy)9 to map nanoscale protein organization in focal adhesions. Our results reveal that integrins and actin are vertically separated by a ∼40-nm focal adhesion core region consisting of multiple protein-specific strata: a membrane-apposed integrin signalling layer containing integrin cytoplasmic tails, focal adhesion kinase and paxillin; an intermediate force-transduction layer containing talin and vinculin; and an uppermost actin-regulatory layer containing zyxin, vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein and α-actinin. By localizing amino- and carboxy-terminally tagged talins, we reveal talin’s polarized orientation, indicative of a role in organizing the focal adhesion strata. The composite multilaminar protein architecture provides a molecular blueprint for understanding focal adhesion functions.

Interferometric fluorescent super-resolution microscopy resolves 3D cellular ultrastructure

Abstract: Understanding molecular-scale architecture of cells requires determination of 3D locations of specific proteins with accuracy matching their nanometer-length scale. Existing electron and light microscopy techniques are limited either in molecular specificity or resolution. Here, we introduce interferometric photoactivated localization microscopy (iPALM), the combination of photoactivated localization microscopy with single-photon, simultaneous multiphase interferometry that provides sub-20-nm 3D protein localization with optimal molecular specificity. We demonstrate measurement of the 25-nm microtubule diameter, resolve the dorsal and ventral plasma membranes, and visualize the arrangement of integrin receptors within endoplasmic reticulum and adhesion complexes, 3D protein organization previously resolved only by electron microscopy. iPALM thus closes the gap between electron tomography and light microscopy, enabling both molecular specification and resolution of cellular nanoarchitecture.

The 2015 super-resolution microscopy roadmap

Abstract: Far-field optical microscopy using focused light is an important tool in a number of scientific disciplines including chemical, (bio)physical and biomedical research, particularly with respect to the study of living cells and organisms. Unfortunately, the applicability of the optical microscope is limited, since the diffraction of light imposes limitations on the spatial resolution of the image. Consequently the details of, for example, cellular protein distributions, can be visualized only to a certain extent. Fortunately, recent years have witnessed the development of 'super-resolution' far-field optical microscopy (nanoscopy) techniques such as stimulated emission depletion (STED), ground state depletion (GSD), reversible saturated optical (fluorescence) transitions (RESOLFT), photoactivation localization microscopy (PALM), stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), structured illumination microscopy (SIM) or saturated structured illumination microscopy (SSIM), all in one way or another addressing the problem of the limited spatial resolution of far-field optical microscopy. While SIM achieves a two-fold improvement in spatial resolution compared to conventional optical microscopy, STED, RESOLFT, PALM/STORM, or SSIM have all gone beyond, pushing the limits of optical image resolution to the nanometer scale. Consequently, all super-resolution techniques open new avenues of biomedical research. Because the field is so young, the potential capabilities of different super-resolution microscopy approaches have yet to be fully explored, and uncertainties remain when considering the best choice of methodology. Thus, even for experts, the road to the future is sometimes shrouded in mist. The super-resolution optical microscopy roadmap of Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics addresses this need for clarity. It provides guidance to the outstanding questions through a collection of short review articles from experts in the field, giving a thorough discussion on the concepts underlying super-resolution optical microscopy, the potential of different approaches, the importance of label optimization (such as reversible photoswitchable proteins) and applications in which these methods will have a significant impact.

Molecular mechanism of vinculin activation and nanoscale spatial organization in focal adhesions.

Abstract: Focal adhesions (FAs) link the extracellular matrix to the actin cytoskeleton to mediate cell adhesion, migration, mechanosensing and signalling. FAs have conserved nanoscale protein organization, suggesting that the position of proteins within FAs regulates their activity and function. Vinculin binds different FA proteins to mediate distinct cellular functions, but how vinculin's interactions are spatiotemporally organized within FAs is unknown. Using interferometric photoactivation localization super-resolution microscopy to assay vinculin nanoscale localization and a FRET biosensor to assay vinculin conformation, we found that upward repositioning within the FA during FA maturation facilitates vinculin activation and mechanical reinforcement of FAs. Inactive vinculin localizes to the lower integrin signalling layer in FAs by binding to phospho-paxillin. Talin binding activates vinculin and targets active vinculin higher in FAs where vinculin can engage retrograde actin flow. Thus, specific protein interactions are spatially segregated within FAs at the nanoscale to regulate vinculin activation and function.

The 2015 super-resolution microscopy roadmap

Abstract: Far-field optical microscopy using focused light is an important tool in a number of scientific disciplines including chemical, (bio)physical and biomedical research, particularly with respect to the study of living cells and organisms. Unfortunately, the applicability of the optical microscope is limited, since the diffraction of light imposes limitations on the spatial resolution of the image. Consequently the details of, for example, cellular protein distributions, can be visualized only to a certain extent. Fortunately, recent years have witnessed the development of 'super-resolution' far-field optical microscopy (nanoscopy) techniques such as stimulated emission depletion (STED), ground state depletion (GSD), reversible saturated optical (fluorescence) transitions (RESOLFT), photoactivation localization microscopy (PALM), stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), structured illumination microscopy (SIM) or saturated structured illumination microscopy (SSIM), all in one way or another addressing the problem of the limited spatial resolution of far-field optical microscopy. While SIM achieves a two-fold improvement in spatial resolution compared to conventional optical microscopy, STED, RESOLFT, PALM/STORM, or SSIM have all gone beyond, pushing the limits of optical image resolution to the nanometer scale. Consequently, all super-resolution techniques open new avenues of biomedical research. Because the field is so young, the potential capabilities of different super-resolution microscopy approaches have yet to be fully explored, and uncertainties remain when considering the best choice of methodology. Thus, even for experts, the road to the future is sometimes shrouded in mist. The super-resolution optical microscopy roadmap of Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics addresses this need for clarity. It provides guidance to the outstanding questions through a collection of short review articles from experts in the field, giving a thorough discussion on the concepts underlying super-resolution optical microscopy, the potential of different approaches, the importance of label optimization (such as reversible photoswitchable proteins) and applications in which these methods will have a significant impact.

疟原虫var基因转换速率变化导致抗原变异[英]／Paul H, Robert P, Christodoulou Z, et al//Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Abstract: 抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1（PfPMP1）与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用，在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员，通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

Of Theory and Practice

Abstract: Much has been written about theory and practice in the law, and the tension between practitioners and theorists. Judges do not cite theoretical articles often; they rarely "apply" theories to particular cases. These arguments are not revisited. Instead the Essay explores the working and interaction of theory and practice, practitioners and theorists. The Essay starts with a story about solving a legal issue using our intellectual tools - theory, practice, and their progenies: experience and "gut." Next the Essay elaborates on the nature of theory, practice, experience and "gut." The third part of the Essay discusses theories that are helpful to practitioners and those that are less helpful. The Essay concludes that practitioners theorize, and theorists practice. They use these intellectual tools differently because the goals and orientations of theorists and practitioners, and the constraints under which they act, differ. Theory, practice, experience and "gut" help us think, remember, decide and create. They complement each other like the two sides of the same coin: distinct but inseparable.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract: where A represents the magnetic vector potential, is an integral of the hydromagnetic equations. This -integral made it possible to formulate a variational principle for the force-free magnetic fields. The integral expresses the fact that motions cannot transform a given field in an entirely arbitrary different field, if the conductivity of the medium isconsidered infinite. In this paper we shall show that the full set of hydromagnetic equations admit five more integrals, besides the energy integral, if dissipative processes are absent. These integrals, as we shall presently verify, are I2 =fbHvdV, (2)

Spatially resolved, highly multiplexed RNA profiling in single cells

Abstract: INTRODUCTION: The copy number and in- tracellular localization of RNA are important regulators of gene expression. Measurement of these properties at the transcriptome scale in single cells will give answers to many ques- tions related to gene expression and regulation. Single-molecule RNA imaging approaches, such as single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybrid- ization(smFISH), are powerful toolsforcount- ing and mappingRNA; however, the number of RNA species that can be simultaneously im- aged in individual cells has been limited. This makes it challenging to perform transcriptomic analysis of single cells in a spatially resolved manner. Here, we report multiplexed error- robust FISH (MERFISH), a single-molecule im- aging method that allows thousands of RNA species to be imaged in single cells by using combinatorial FISH labeling with encoding schemes capable of detecting and/or correct- ing errors. RATIONALE: We labeled each cellular RNA with a set of encoding probes, which contain targeting sequences that bind the RNA and readout sequences that bind fluorescently la- beled readout probes. Each RNA species is encodedwithaparticular combinationofread- out sequences. We used successive rounds of hybridization and imaging, each with a differ- ent readout probe, to identify the readout se- quences bound to each RNA and to decode the RNA. In principle, combinatorial labeling al- lows the number of detectable RNA species to