A Fantastic Voyage into the Cell: Crowding, Compression and Cancer

Tens of thousands of biochemical reactions occur simultaneously in the cell.Smallmoleculesarechanneledthroughmetabolicpathwaysat blistering speed. Giant complexes assemble to orchestrate transcription and translation. ATP fuels the active transport of organelles along microtubules, and actin networks drive membrane remodeling and agitate the cytoplasm. All of this occurs within a crowded cell interior that approaches the physical limits where molecular jamming will occur. This extreme physical environmentisboth essentialforlife,andapotentialliability.Ifcells become toodilute,theysenesceanddie.Ontheotherhand,mechanicalcompression increases crowding and eventually stalls growth. Perturbations to crowding will change the balance of reaction rates in the cell. Crowding also drives biomolecular condensation, which in turn is thought to regulate myriad processes. We propose that perturbations to the physical properties of the cellinteriorthroughcompression anddysregulationofgrowthpathways play animportantroleinbothnormalcellbiologyandcancer.
 

Bio: Liam Holt obtained an MBiochem from the University of Bath, completed his Ph. D. at UCSF in 2009, was an independent Bowes Fellow at UC Berkeley until 2016 and has been an Assistant Professor at NYU since 2016. His lab is focused on bringing methods from Physics to the study of disease. He is passionate about outreach and community. He founded Science Sketches, an online dictionary of science videos now partnered with XBio and MBoC, and Inspire Science, a symposium about maintaining happiness in a challenging career.