Jinghui Liu

As experimental biophysicists fascinated by both the elegance of theory and power of experimental tools, we can conveniently quote our belief in line as Richard Feynman, that "what I cannot create I do not understand". Working with cells the argument gets toned down a bit, but still, a biological model system with the desired level of experimental tunability will confer us with the power to test physical models and to bring physics-driven applications into (literally) life. Studying the spatiotemporal organization of cellular information structures, we spot optogenetics as an ideal tool for achieving the spatially and temporally precise perturbations and therefore conceiving controls.

So what are the new scopes such an optogenetics tool is bringing us? Motivated by our progress in understanding the signaling wave organizations in sea star egg cells, we are developing a light-activation system for modulating the target Rho-GTP activities, such that manipulation of the underlying topological structures is possible. Considering the signaling waves as an information-processing unit wired up in the cell, we aim to experimentally write and read from this processing unit, therefore exploring the physical constraints and even achieving a programmable device. Meanwhile, that cells respond mechanically to Rho-GTP activities also allows us to explore the mechanochemical coupling in such processes.

Check here for a published version of the light activation tool in: M. C. Wigbers¹, T. H. Tan¹, F. Brauns, J. Liu, S. Z. Swartz, E. Frey, N. Fakhri.