Kaitlyn DeMeulenaere, Margot Manning, Immanuel Onuoha, Aaron Reynolds, John-David Slaugh, Charles Slocum, Panhia Yang
“One Organism, Many Cells: Novel Analytical Approaches for Exploring the Complexities of Cell-Cell Communication”
Wednesday, April 5, 3:30 PM, Olin 149. Snacks provided
Do you ever wonder how 37 trillion cells work together to create one human being? The question of how cells are able to “communicate” within living organisms has been at the forefront of scientists’ minds for decades. However, analysis on the level of a single cell remains a challenge. Jonathan Sweedler, a bioanalytical chemist, has developed a combination of separation and mass spectrometry techniques to surmount this barrier. This is particularly useful in detecting trace chemical messengers such as neurotransmitters, the backbone of neuronal communication. His innovations allow for the detection of hundreds to thousands of compounds in nanoliter-size samples. In this presentation, we describe these techniques and provide examples of how they can be used to study cellular heterogeneity and signaling over time and space. Sweedler’s techniques lay the groundwork for new studies of complex cellular networks and their mechanisms of communication.