Author(s): Husser MC; Pham NP; Law C; Araujo FRB; Martin VJJ; Piekny A;

Endogenous tags have become invaluable tools to visualize and study native proteins in live cells. However, generating human cell lines carrying endogenous tags is difficult due to the low efficiency of homology-directed repair. Recently, an engineered split mNeonGreen protein was used to generate a large-scale endogenous tag library in HEK293 cells. Usin ...

Article GUID: 38652106

Author(s): Adeola AO; Clermont-Paquette A; Piekny A; Naccache R;

Carbon dots (CDs) have garnered significant interest for their potential use in multiple applications due to their size, fluorescent properties, high photostability, low toxicity and biocompatibility. CDs can be tailored for specific needs, as they can be synthesized with diverse precursors and techniques for functionalization. Since the applications of C ...

Article GUID: 37757783

Author(s): Clermont-Paquette A; Mendoza DA; Sadeghi A; Piekny A; Naccache R;

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum pesticide used in crops and is found in many products used by industry and consumers. Unfortunately, glyphosate has been shown to have some toxicity toward many organisms found in our ecosystems and has been reported to have carcinogenic effects on humans. Hence, there is a need to develop novel nanosensors that are more sen ...

Article GUID: 37299928

Author(s): Ozugergin I; Piekny A;

Cytokinesis is required to physically cleave a cell into two daughters at the end of mitosis. Decades of research have led to a comprehensive understanding of the core cytokinesis machinery and how it is regulated in animal cells, however this knowledge was generated using single cells cultured in vitro, or in early embryos before tissues develop. This ra ...

Article GUID: 36420142

Author(s): Sohrabi Kashani A; Larocque K; Piekny A; Packirisamy M;

In the present study, we investigate the mechanobiological responses of human lung cancer that may occur through their interactions with two different types of gold nanoparticles: nanostars and nanospheres. Hyperspectral images of nanoparticle-treated cells revealed different spatial distributions of nanoparticles in cells depending on their morphology, w ...

Article GUID: 35839330

Author(s): Ozugergin I; Mastronardi K; Law C; Piekny A;

Cytokinesis occurs at the end of mitosis due to the ingression of a contractile ring that cleaves the daughter cells. The core machinery regulating this crucial process is conserved among metazoans. Multiple pathways control ring assembly, but their contribution in different cell types is not known. We found that in the C. elegans embryo, AB and P1 cells ...

Article GUID: 35022791

Author(s): Jaunky DB; Larocque K; Husser MC; Liu JT; Forgione P; Piekny A;

We reveal the effects of a new microtubule-destabilizing compound in human cells. C75 has a core thienoisoquinoline scaffold with several functional groups amenable to modification. Previously we found that sub micromolar concentrations of C75 caused cytotoxicity. We also found that C75 inhibited microtubule polymerization and competed with colchicine for ...

Article GUID: 34880347

Author(s): Liu JT; Jaunky DB; Larocque K; Chen F; Mckibbon K; Sirouspour M; Taylor S; Shafeii A; Campbell D; Braga H; Piekny A; Forgione P;

Several derivatives of a series that share a thienoisoquinoline scaffold have demonstrated potent anti-cancer activity against cancer cell lines A549, HeLa, HCT-116 in the submicromolar concentration range. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies on a range of derivatives aided in identifyi ...

Article GUID: 34416378

Author(s): Koh SP; Pham NP; Piekny A;

Cytokinesis is required to cleave the daughter cells at the end of mitosis and relies on the spatiotemporal control of RhoA GTPase. Cytokinesis failure can lead to changes in cell fate or aneuploidy, which can be detrimental during development and/or can lead to cancer. However, our knowledge of the pathways that regulate RhoA during cytokinesis is limite ...

Article GUID: 34405757

Author(s): Sohrabi Kashani A, Piekny A, Packirisamy M

Determining the characteristics and localization of nanoparticles inside cells is crucial for nanomedicine design for cancer therapy. Hyperspectral imaging is a fast, straightforward, reliable, and accurate method to study the interactions of nanoparticles and intracellular components. With a hyperspectral image, we could collect spectral information cons ...

Article GUID: 33365137

Author(s): Grimbert S, Mastronardi K, Richard V, Christensen R, Law C, Zardoui K, Fay D, Piekny A

Complex structures derived from multiple tissue types are challenging to study in vivo, and our knowledge of how cells from different tissues are coordinated is limited. Model organisms have proven invaluable for improving our understanding of how chemical and mechanical cues between cells from two different tissues can govern specific morphogenetic event ...

Article GUID: 33309948