We have established biophysical nanotools including in vitro single-molecule reconstitution assays and in vivo super-resolution microscopy systems for the study of intracellular membrane dynamics, especially for autolysosome tubulation, mitochondrial network formation and human platelet spreading.
Intracellular membrane nanotube formation and its dynamics play important roles for cargo transportation and organelle biogenesis, which are mainly driven by motor proteins. The formation and dynamics of nanotubes are increasingly recognized to play important roles in a multitude of biological progress. We recently demonstrated the role of nanotube dynamics in autophagic lysosome reformation (ALR) during autophagy (Du and Su Developmental Cell 2016, Su Scientific Reports 2016) and mitochondrial network remodelling (Wang, Du and Su Cell Research 2015) with single-molecule in vitro reconstitution assay and super-resolution fluorescent microscopy.
Platelet is a blood clotting cell that plays a crucial role in preventing bleeding or causing cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack and stroke. The cell was immuno-stained towards integrin αIIbβ3 and the image was taken by STochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM), Australia’s first super-resolution cardiovascular imaging platform established at HRI @ USYD and IBMD @ UTS with spatial resolution ~20 nm. This single-molecule nanotool will provide better guidance to understand how platelets make the thrombotic decision at single-cell and single-molecule level, potentially leading to new anti-thrombotic strategies (Chen Nature Materials 2019).
[1] Du, W.*, Qian Peter Su*,et al. 2016. Developmental Cell 37.
[2] Su Qian Peter, W. Du, et al. 2016. Scientific Reports 6.
[3] Wang, C.*, W. Du*, Qian Peter Su*, et al. 2015. Cell Research 25.
[4] Chen Y., L.A. Ju, F. Zhou, J. Liao, L. Xue, Qian Peter Su, D. Jin, Y. Yuan, H. Lu, S.P. Jackson#, C. Zhu#. 2019. Nature Materials