Richard Tyson
QuimP11
Correlation of protein dynamics with cell shape changes
QuimP allows the automatic tracking of cell outlines and samples intensities of fluorescently tagged proteins in the cortex of migrating cells. QuimP has been successfully used to study chemotaxis and the dynamics of actin regulation.
We want to develop the second-generation software, QuimP2, which will allow accurate correlation of local protrusion/retraction activities of the cell outline, their angular distribution and persistence with local fluorescence intensities. This tool will be used for functional cell motility studies of wild-type and mutant Dictyostelium cells and will enable us to screen for subtle phenotypes which for example those that show proper spatial localisation, but impaired temporal dynamics or defects in membrane protrusion or retraction.
Our previous research led to the development of a novel electrostatic approach for quantifying local deformations of the cell membrane, which will be incorporated into the new software. We aim to validate the accuracy of the new approach via microscopy techniques, specifically FRAP and photo-activation of labelled cortical proteins.
We envisage the release of open source software that will contribute to the building of a standardised library of spatio-temporal maps of protein localisation that will form the bases for statistical analyses and elucidation of the regulation of cytoskeleton dynamics.
Electrostatic contour migration method (ecmm)
ECMM is an algorithm developed for efficiently mapping points located on a contour T0 to a corresponding position on a contour Tn. ECMM is utilised in the QuimP10 software package to map the outline if a cell at time point T to that at time point T+1, and hence extract data regarding the speed at which local regions of the cell membrane are deforming. Details of ECMM are presented in the publication 'High resolution tracking of cell membrane dynamics' (Math. Model. Nat. Phenom. Vol. 5, No. 1, 2010, pp. 34-55).
QuimP11 Software Download
QuimP11 is written in Java and is made available as a plugin for ImageJ, or the extended ImageJ software, Fiji.
Academic background:
| The University of Warwick | |
| 2011-present | Post Doc: Bretshneider Lab, Warwick SB |
| 2008-2011 | PhD: Cartography of Cell Motion -- QuimP2 |
| 2007-2008 | MSc Systems Biology (Systems Biology DTC) |
| The University of Birmingham | |
| 2006-2007 | MSc Intelligent Systems Engineering |
| 2003-2006 | BSc Bioinformatics |
-
-
Office SH122, Systems Biology DTC, 2nd floor Senate House
Warwick Phone Extension: 74508
Email: Richard dot Tyson at warwick dot ac dot uk