Even though I’ve heard Julian explain the eyelash touch assay dozens of times now, it never ceases to both amuse and intrigue me. I guess it speaks to the spirit of science on one hand– we make due with what we have!– but it also surprises me that we have yet to develop a synthetic material that can as aptly measure the response of C. elegans to soft touch. At any rate, I’m inspired by Julian’s dedication and his ability to replicate this method at the high magnitude required by his project.
Gap junctions are super interesting to me as a fellow molecular biologist interested in cellular chemical signaling. I didn’t know how many different types of gap junctions there were before listening to Julian’s talk, but now I wonder, as Julian does, how the localization of certain types of innexins and gap junctions affect the overall function of the pathways involved. I found connections to my project: we both use the confocal to analyze fluorescent images, although I’m looking at a broader response and he’s focusing in on the specific cellular locations of his target proteins. As well, plant cells don’t have gap junctions, but they do have plasmodesmata, which are little channels between cells. I wonder if there are genes and proteins conserved between these two mechanisms of cell signaling, and how Julian’s work could translate to a plant system. I also wonder about the calcium dynamics involved in the gap junctions Julian studies. Because he is studying a movement phenotype, I’m guessing that actin is involved which would suggest to me the involvement of calcium as well.
I’m interested in the other tools Julian uses besides his eyelashes, too. I’d love to know more about how TurboID biotinylates proteins and how you can analyze this to estimate an interactome. I’m also interested in the results from the mass spec about the composition of interactors with UNC-9 and if they are similar to interactors of UNC-7, as his lab suspects.
I’m excited to see Julian’s poster and continue hearing about his work!
Yes, I have a friend who also uses his eyelashes for C. elegans projects and I ask about it every time I see him haha. Great summary!