27 results on '"Stephanie Mok"'
Search Results
2. Revisiting tissue tensegrity: Biomaterial-based approaches to measure forces across length scales
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Christina-Marie Boghdady, Nikita Kalashnikov, Stephanie Mok, Luke McCaffrey, and Christopher Moraes
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Biotechnology ,TP248.13-248.65 ,Medical technology ,R855-855.5 - Abstract
Cell-generated forces play a foundational role in tissue dynamics and homeostasis and are critically important in several biological processes, including cell migration, wound healing, morphogenesis, and cancer metastasis. Quantifying such forces in vivo is technically challenging and requires novel strategies that capture mechanical information across molecular, cellular, and tissue length scales, while allowing these studies to be performed in physiologically realistic biological models. Advanced biomaterials can be designed to non-destructively measure these stresses in vitro, and here, we review mechanical characterizations and force-sensing biomaterial-based technologies to provide insight into the mechanical nature of tissue processes. We specifically and uniquely focus on the use of these techniques to identify characteristics of cell and tissue “tensegrity:” the hierarchical and modular interplay between tension and compression that provide biological tissues with remarkable mechanical properties and behaviors. Based on these observed patterns, we highlight and discuss the emerging role of tensegrity at multiple length scales in tissue dynamics from homeostasis, to morphogenesis, to pathological dysfunction.
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- 2021
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3. Dispersible hydrogel force sensors reveal patterns of solid mechanical stress in multicellular spheroid cultures
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Wontae Lee, Nikita Kalashnikov, Stephanie Mok, Ruba Halaoui, Elena Kuzmin, Andrew J. Putnam, Shuichi Takayama, Morag Park, Luke McCaffrey, Ruogang Zhao, Richard L. Leask, and Christopher Moraes
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Science - Abstract
Understanding how forces orchestrate tissue formation requires technologies to map internal tissue stress at cellular length scales. Here, authors develop ultrasoft sensors that visibly deform under cell-generated stress to capture patterns of internal stress development during multicellular spheroid formation.
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- 2019
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4. Functional Redundancy between β1 and β3 Integrin in Activating the IR/Akt/mTORC1 Signaling Axis to Promote ErbB2-Driven Breast Cancer
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Tung Bui, Jonathan Rennhack, Stephanie Mok, Chen Ling, Marco Perez, Joshua Roccamo, Eran R. Andrechek, Christopher Moraes, and William J. Muller
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Biology (General) ,QH301-705.5 - Abstract
Summary: Integrin receptors coordinate cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix (ECM) to facilitate many cellular processes during malignant transformation. Despite their pro-tumorigenic roles, therapies targeting integrins remain limited. Here, we provide genetic evidence supporting a functional redundancy between β1 and β3 integrin during breast cancer progression. Although ablation of β1 or β3 integrin alone has limited effects on ErbB2-driven mammary tumorigenesis, deletion of both receptors resulted in a significant delay in tumor onset with a corresponding impairment in lung metastasis. Mechanistically, stiff ECM cooperates with integrin receptors to recruit insulin receptors (IRs) to focal adhesion through the formation of integrin/IR complexes, thereby preventing their lysosomal degradation. β1/β3 integrin-deficient tumors that eventually emerged exhibit impaired Akt/mTORC1 activity. Murine and human breast cancers exhibiting enhanced integrin-dependent activity also display elevated IR/Akt/mTORC1 signaling activity. Together, these observations argue that integrin/IR crosstalk transduces mechanical cues from the tumor microenvironment to promote ErbB2-dependent breast cancer progression. : Using a mouse model of ErbB2-driven breast cancer, Bui et al. demonstrate a functional redundancy between two integrin subunits, β1 and β3, during mammary tumorigenesis. Mechanistically, both extracellular matrix (ECM) and integrin receptors regulate insulin receptor (IR) activity to promote the Akt/mTORC1 signaling axis, a crucial pathway to malignant transformation. Keywords: ECM stiffness, ErbB2, breast cancer, insulin receptor, integrin, transgenic model, Akt, mTORC1
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- 2019
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5. Compressive molding of engineered tissues via thermoresponsive hydrogel devices
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Camille Cassel de Camps, Stephanie Mok, Emily Ashby, Chen Li, Paula Lépine, Thomas M. Durcan, and Christopher Moraes
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Biomedical Engineering ,Bioengineering ,General Chemistry ,Biochemistry - Abstract
A thermoresponsive hydrogel platform is used to compressively mold and release microtissues on demand. Brain organoids were molded into ring shapes and differentiated within hydrogel devices during long-term culture.
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- 2023
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6. In Situ Measurement of Intra-tumoral Tissue Rigidity
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Benjamin E. Campbell, Stephanie Mok, and Christopher Moraes
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- 2023
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7. Human neocortical expansion involves glutamatergic neuron diversification
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Tim S. Heistek, Thomas Braun, Natalia A. Goriounova, Michael Tieu, Lindsay Ng, Michael Hawrylycz, Kris Bickley, Anton Arkhipov, Colin Farrell, Trangthanh Pham, Alexandra Glandon, Daniel Park, Gábor Molnár, Herman Tung, Allan R. Jones, Lisa Keene, Gáspár Oláh, Thomas Chartrand, Amy Torkelson, Jae Geun Yoon, Rachel A. Dalley, Aaron Szafer, Nick Dee, Brian E. Kalmbach, Eliza Barkan, Allison Beller, Krissy Brouner, Andrew L. Ko, Alex M. Henry, Viktor Szemenyei, Julie Nyhus, Staci A. Sorensen, Samuel Dingman Lee, Norbert Mihut, Amy Bernard, Lisa Kim, Anatoly Buchin, Melissa Gorham, Lucas T. Graybuck, Lydia Potekhina, Katelyn Ward, Caitlin S. Latimer, Aaron Oldre, Gabe J. Murphy, Boaz P. Levi, Trygve E. Bakken, René Wilbers, Jonathan T. Ting, Kimberly A. Smith, Amanda Gary, Songlin Ding, Alice Mukora, Matthew Kroll, Anoop P. Patel, Wayne Wakeman, Hongkui Zeng, Nadezhda Dotson, Rusty Mann, Victoria Omstead, Leona Mezei, Desiree A. Marshall, Shea Ransford, Lydia Ng, Sara Kebede, Gábor Tamás, Jeffrey G. Ojemann, Stephanie Mok, Nathan Hansen, Christina A. Pom, Brian Lee, Jim Berg, Ramkumar Rajanbabu, John W. Phillips, Philip R. Nicovich, Matthew Mallory, Richard G. Ellenbogen, Rachel Enstrom, Luke Esposito, Tim Jarsky, Di Jon Hill, Idan Segev, Darren Bertagnolli, Agata Budzillo, Sander Idema, Daniel L. Silbergeld, Costas A. Anastassiou, Chris Hill, Michelle Maxwell, Mean Hwan Kim, Charles Cobbs, Delissa McMillen, Bosiljka Tasic, Olivia Fong, Medea McGraw, Hong Gu, Kirsten Crichton, David Reid, Kristen Hadley, Lauren Alfiler, Manuel Ferreira, Elliot R. Thomsen, Kiet Ngo, Josef Sulc, Augustin Ruiz, Katherine Baker, Zizhen Yao, Erica J. Melief, Femke Waleboer, Hanchuan Peng, Grace Williams, Rebecca D. Hodge, Kyla Berry, Katherine E. Link, David Sandman, Tsega Desta, Christine Rimorin, Jeff Goldy, Ryder P. Gwinn, Djai B. Heyer, Changkyu Lee, Jeremy A. Miller, Nathan W. Gouwens, Pál Barzó, Attila Ozsvár, Huibert D. Mansvelder, Sergey L. Gratiy, Rafael Yuste, David Feng, Jessica Trinh, Clare Gamlin, Tamara Casper, C. Dirk Keene, Susan M. Sunkin, Tom Egdorf, Philip C. De Witt Hamer, Rebecca de Frates, Peter Chong, Szabina Furdan, Patrick R. Hof, Jasmine Bomben, Christiaan P. J. de Kock, Eline J. Mertens, Ed S. Lein, Anna A. Galakhova, Florence D’Orazi, Christof Koch, Madie Hupp, Neurosurgery, Amsterdam Neuroscience - Systems & Network Neuroscience, Integrative Neurophysiology, Amsterdam Neuroscience - Cellular & Molecular Mechanisms, and Amsterdam Neuroscience - Compulsivity, Impulsivity & Attention
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Cell type ,Multidisciplinary ,Neocortex ,Neurofilament ,Molecular neuroscience ,Biology ,Article ,Cellular neuroscience ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Glutamatergic ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,chemistry ,Biocytin ,medicine ,Neuron ,Neuroscience - Abstract
The neocortex is disproportionately expanded in human compared with mouse1,2, both in its total volume relative to subcortical structures and in the proportion occupied by supragranular layers composed of neurons that selectively make connections within the neocortex and with other telencephalic structures. Single-cell transcriptomic analyses of human and mouse neocortex show an increased diversity of glutamatergic neuron types in supragranular layers in human neocortex and pronounced gradients as a function of cortical depth3. Here, to probe the functional and anatomical correlates of this transcriptomic diversity, we developed a robust platform combining patch clamp recording, biocytin staining and single-cell RNA-sequencing (Patch-seq) to examine neurosurgically resected human tissues. We demonstrate a strong correspondence between morphological, physiological and transcriptomic phenotypes of five human glutamatergic supragranular neuron types. These were enriched in but not restricted to layers, with one type varying continuously in all phenotypes across layers 2 and 3. The deep portion of layer 3 contained highly distinctive cell types, two of which express a neurofilament protein that labels long-range projection neurons in primates that are selectively depleted in Alzheimer’s disease4,5. Together, these results demonstrate the explanatory power of transcriptomic cell-type classification, provide a structural underpinning for increased complexity of cortical function in humans, and implicate discrete transcriptomic neuron types as selectively vulnerable in disease., Combined patch clamp recording, biocytin staining and single-cell RNA-sequencing of human neurocortical neurons shows an expansion of glutamatergic neuron types relative to mouse that characterizes the greater complexity of the human neocortex.
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- 2021
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8. Cellular anatomy of the mouse primary motor cortex
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Judith Mizrachi, Partha P. Mitra, Arun Narasimhan, Philip R. Nicovich, Sarojini M. Attili, Hideki Kondo, Pavel Osten, Muye Zhu, Brian Zingg, Anthony M. Zador, Stephan Fischer, William Galbavy, Uree Chon, Liya Ding, Stephanie Mok, Kwanghun Chung, Florence D’Orazi, Xu An, Shenqin Yao, Philip Lesnar, Wayne Wakemen, James C. Gee, Darrick Lo, Kathleen Kelly, Ian Bowman, Lydia Ng, Peng Xie, Quanxin Wang, Karla E. Hirokawa, X. William Yang, Julie A. Harris, Xiuli Kuang, Huizhong W. Tao, Samik Bannerjee, Elise Shen, Xu Li, Z. Josh Huang, Ali Cetin, Young Gyun Park, Lijuan Liu, Corey Elowsky, Xiangning Li, Lin Gou, Hong-Wei Dong, Laura Korobkova, Joshua T. Hatfield, Junxiang Jason Huang, Hui Gong, Yun Wang, Houri Hintiryan, Nicholas N. Foster, Peter A. Groblewski, Michael S. Bienkowski, Diek W. Wheeler, Xiaoyin Chen, Yu-Chi Sun, Anastasiia Bludova, Maitham Naeemi, Rodrigo Muñoz-Castañeda, Joel D. Hahn, Jing Yuan, Hanchuan Peng, Katherine Matho, Jason Palmer, Huiqing Zhan, Yimin Wang, Hongkui Zeng, Michael Hawrylycz, Chris Sin Park, Li I. Zhang, Rhonda Drewes, Ramesh Palaniswamy, Bing-Xing Huo, Anan Li, Yongsoo Kim, Jesse Gillis, Byung Kook Lim, Lei Gao, Giorgio A. Ascoli, Xiaoli Qi, Meng Kuan Lin, Yaoyao Li, and Qingming Luo
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Male ,Computer science ,Neuroimaging ,Neural circuits ,Article ,Mice ,Atlases as Topic ,Glutamates ,medicine ,Biological neural network ,Animals ,GABAergic Neurons ,Neurons ,Multidisciplinary ,Sequence Analysis, RNA ,Brain atlas ,Motor Cortex ,Motor control ,Neuroinformatics ,Cellular Anatomy ,Mice, Inbred C57BL ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Cellular resolution ,Organ Specificity ,Female ,Single-Cell Analysis ,Primary motor cortex ,Neuroscience ,Motor cortex - Abstract
An essential step toward understanding brain function is to establish a structural framework with cellular resolution on which multi-scale datasets spanning molecules, cells, circuits and systems can be integrated and interpreted1. Here, as part of the collaborative Brain Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN), we derive a comprehensive cell type-based anatomical description of one exemplar brain structure, the mouse primary motor cortex, upper limb area (MOp-ul). Using genetic and viral labelling, barcoded anatomy resolved by sequencing, single-neuron reconstruction, whole-brain imaging and cloud-based neuroinformatics tools, we delineated the MOp-ul in 3D and refined its sublaminar organization. We defined around two dozen projection neuron types in the MOp-ul and derived an input–output wiring diagram, which will facilitate future analyses of motor control circuitry across molecular, cellular and system levels. This work provides a roadmap towards a comprehensive cellular-resolution description of mammalian brain architecture., Multi-modal analysis is used to generate a 3D atlas of the upper limb area of the mouse primary motor cortex, providing a framework for future studies of motor control circuitry.
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- 2021
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9. In Situ Measurement of Intra-tumoral Tissue Rigidity
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Benjamin E, Campbell, Stephanie, Mok, and Christopher, Moraes
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Local tissue scale mechanical properties are essential for understanding cell fate and function; however, few methods to measure stiffness at this length scale exist, and applications in 3D tissues can present further challenges. To address this need, microgel-based sensors fabricated out of the thermally responsive hydrogel poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) were developed allowing internal architectures of tissues to be mapped by optically measuring microgel response when actuated in a matrix. These robust probes are widely applicable for in vitro and in vivo studies of tissue mechanics providing tissues can be fluorescently imaged. Here we describe the fabrication of these thermally responsive hydrogel sensors, calibration of the microgels using phantom tissues, and image processing techniques used to make the measurements.
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- 2022
10. Functional Redundancy between β1 and β3 Integrin in Activating the IR/Akt/mTORC1 Signaling Axis to Promote ErbB2-Driven Breast Cancer
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Christopher Moraes, Stephanie Mok, William J. Muller, Tung Bui, Chen Ling, Joshua Roccamo, Marco Perez, Jonathan P. Rennhack, and Eran R. Andrechek
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0301 basic medicine ,Adult ,Lung Neoplasms ,Receptor, ErbB-2 ,Integrin ,Breast Neoplasms ,Kaplan-Meier Estimate ,Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Malignant transformation ,Focal adhesion ,03 medical and health sciences ,Mice ,0302 clinical medicine ,Cell Adhesion ,Tumor Microenvironment ,Animals ,Humans ,Insulin ,Receptor ,Cell adhesion ,Protein kinase B ,lcsh:QH301-705.5 ,Mice, Knockout ,Tumor microenvironment ,biology ,Chemistry ,Integrin beta1 ,Integrin beta3 ,Receptor, Insulin ,Extracellular Matrix ,Crosstalk (biology) ,030104 developmental biology ,lcsh:Biology (General) ,Cancer research ,biology.protein ,Female ,Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Signal Transduction - Abstract
Summary: Integrin receptors coordinate cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix (ECM) to facilitate many cellular processes during malignant transformation. Despite their pro-tumorigenic roles, therapies targeting integrins remain limited. Here, we provide genetic evidence supporting a functional redundancy between β1 and β3 integrin during breast cancer progression. Although ablation of β1 or β3 integrin alone has limited effects on ErbB2-driven mammary tumorigenesis, deletion of both receptors resulted in a significant delay in tumor onset with a corresponding impairment in lung metastasis. Mechanistically, stiff ECM cooperates with integrin receptors to recruit insulin receptors (IRs) to focal adhesion through the formation of integrin/IR complexes, thereby preventing their lysosomal degradation. β1/β3 integrin-deficient tumors that eventually emerged exhibit impaired Akt/mTORC1 activity. Murine and human breast cancers exhibiting enhanced integrin-dependent activity also display elevated IR/Akt/mTORC1 signaling activity. Together, these observations argue that integrin/IR crosstalk transduces mechanical cues from the tumor microenvironment to promote ErbB2-dependent breast cancer progression. : Using a mouse model of ErbB2-driven breast cancer, Bui et al. demonstrate a functional redundancy between two integrin subunits, β1 and β3, during mammary tumorigenesis. Mechanistically, both extracellular matrix (ECM) and integrin receptors regulate insulin receptor (IR) activity to promote the Akt/mTORC1 signaling axis, a crucial pathway to malignant transformation. Keywords: ECM stiffness, ErbB2, breast cancer, insulin receptor, integrin, transgenic model, Akt, mTORC1
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- 2019
11. Contributors
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Daphne Archonta, Karthik Suresh Arulalan, Navajit S. Baban, Xue Bai, Christina-Marie Boghdady, Justin Brooks, Lingqian Chang, Huawei Chen, Yuanyuan Chen, Andrew S. Clark, Bianxiao Cui, Xiaoyun Ding, Zaizai Dong, Lin Feng, Yongxiang Feng, Ahmed Fuwad, Yu Gao, Xue Gou, Piao Guo, Mina Hoorfar, Yuanyu Huang, Javier Huayta, Tae-Joon Jeon, Lina Jia, Keekyoung Kim, Sun Min Kim, Xiao Li, Yuekang Li, Francis Lin, Xinyu Liu, Stephanie Mok, Christopher Moraes, Peng Pan, Pouya Rezai, Kabilan Sakthivel, Adriana San-Miguel, Samuel Sofela, Yong-Ak Song, Christopher J. Stubbs, Dong Sun, Yu Sun, Ching-Ting Tsai, Wenhui Wang, Han Wu, Ying Xu, Zhaoyi Xu, Hao Yang, Ruiguo Yang, Tongren Yang, Sunhee Yoon, Khaled Youssef, Chaonan Zhang, Wei Zhang, Weize Zhang, Ruogang Zhao, Yi Zhao, and Yuxiao Zhou
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- 2021
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12. Probing tissue mechanics at the cellular-length scale in cancer microenvironments
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Christina-Marie Boghdady, Christopher Moraes, and Stephanie Mok
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Extracellular matrix ,Length scale ,Cellular activity ,Chemistry ,Cellular Microenvironment ,medicine ,Biophysics ,Mechanical integrity ,Cancer ,Tissue mechanics ,medicine.disease ,Tissue homeostasis - Abstract
Tissues are mechanically complex composite structures in which an organized collection of cells in various configurations interwoven within a complex extracellular matrix maintain mechanical integrity and function. Cellular activity in response to these local mechanical properties can drive considerable changes in the tissues over time. Given the importance of tissue mechanics in maintaining tissue homeostasis and in progressing disease phenotypes, understanding the relationship between the local mechanical microenvironment and cell behavior is therefore crucial to predict tissue health. Specifically, measuring complex mechanics at length scales similar to those of a cell in realistic and living tissues presents considerable challenges. In this chapter, we discuss conventional and emerging techniques to measure tissue mechanics in the cellular microenvironment, with a specific focus on measurements to better understand cancer.
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- 2021
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13. Brain-wide single neuron reconstruction reveals morphological diversity in molecularly defined striatal, thalamic, cortical and claustral neuron types
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Susan M. Sunkin, Zizhen Yao, Qi Li, Tanya L. Daigle, Yun Wang, Michael Hawrylycz, Jia Yuan, Donghuan Lu, Bosiljka Tasic, Lulu Yin, Yuanyuan Song, Z. Josh Huang, Karla E. Hirokawa, Zheng Yefeng, Matthew B. Veldman, Lei Huang, Luke Esposito, Feng Xiong, Shaoqun Zeng, An Liu, Liya Ding, Guodong Hong, Jintao Pan, Yaoyao Li, Wei Xiong, Qiang Ouyang, Yang Yu, Thuc Nghi Nguyen, Qingming Luo, Yimin Wang, Xiangning Li, Mengya Chen, Tao Wang, Zhangcan Ding, Lei Qu, Lydia Ng, Min Ye, Hsien-Chi Kuo, Peng Xie, Yuanyuan Li, Rachael Larsen, Zhixi Yun, Chris Hill, Julie A. Harris, Peng Wang, Longfei Li, Elise Shen, Lijuan Liu, Wan Wan, Sujun Zhao, Hui Gong, Zhongze Gu, Zongcai Ruan, Jing Yuan, Christof Koch, Xiangdong Yang, Wenjie Xu, Hongkui Zeng, Aaron Feiner, Stephanie Mok, Yanjun Duan, Shichen Zhang, Chao Chen, Yaping Wang, Wayne Wakeman, Phil Lesnar, Sara Kebede, Ping He, Staci A. Sorensen, Zijun Zhao, Anan Li, Hanchuan Peng, Xiuli Kuang, Shengdian Jiang, Zhi Zhou, Quanxin Wang, and Wei Xie
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Cell type ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,nervous system ,Cortex (anatomy) ,Thalamus ,medicine ,Striatum ,Neuron ,Biology ,Axon ,Projection (set theory) ,Claustrum ,Neuroscience - Abstract
Ever since the seminal findings of Ramon y Cajal, dendritic and axonal morphology has been recognized as a defining feature of neuronal types. Yet our knowledge concerning the diversity of neuronal morphologies, in particular distal axonal projection patterns, is extremely limited. To systematically obtain single neuron full morphology on a brain-wide scale, we established a platform with five major components: sparse labeling, whole-brain imaging, reconstruction, registration, and classification. We achieved sparse, robust and consistent fluorescent labeling of a wide range of neuronal types by combining transgenic or viral Cre delivery with novel transgenic reporter lines. We acquired high-resolution whole-brain fluorescent images from a large set of sparsely labeled brains using fluorescence micro-optical sectioning tomography (fMOST). We developed a set of software tools for efficient large-volume image data processing, registration to the Allen Mouse Brain Common Coordinate Framework (CCF), and computer-assisted morphological reconstruction. We reconstructed and analyzed the complete morphologies of 1,708 neurons from the striatum, thalamus, cortex and claustrum. Finally, we classified these cells into multiple morphological and projection types and identified a set of region-specific organizational rules of long-range axonal projections at the single cell level. Specifically, different neuron types from different regions follow highly distinct rules in convergent or divergent projection, feedforward or feedback axon termination patterns, and between-cell homogeneity or heterogeneity. Major molecularly defined classes or types of neurons have correspondingly distinct morphological and projection patterns, however, we also identify further remarkably extensive morphological and projection diversity at more fine-grained levels within the major types that cannot presently be accounted for by preexisting transcriptomic subtypes. These insights reinforce the importance of full morphological characterization of brain cell types and suggest a plethora of ways different cell types and individual neurons may contribute to the function of their respective circuits.
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- 2020
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14. Cellular Anatomy of the Mouse Primary Motor Cortex
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Xu An, Xiangning Li, Corey Elowsky, Laura Korobkova, Lei Gao, Giorgio A. Ascoli, Judith Mizrachi, William Galbavy, Jesse Gillis, Byung Kook Lim, Hanchuan Peng, Katherine Matho, Jason Palmer, Liya Ding, Uree Chon, Michael Hawrylycz, Florence D’Orazi, Kathleen Kelly, James C. Gee, Anastasiia Bludova, Peter A. Groblewski, Xu Li, Z. Josh Huang, Wayne Wakemen, Yun Wang, Stephanie Mok, Xiuli Kuang, X. William Yang, Houri Hintiryan, Michael S. Bienkowski, Karla E. Hirokawa, Lydia Ng, Peng Xie, Diek W. Wheeler, Xiaoyin Chen, Jin Yuan, Julie A. Harris, Yaoyao Li, Ramesh Palaniswamy, Yongsoo Kim, Li I. Zhang, Qingming Luo, Darrick Lo, Samik Bannerjee, Huizhong Tao, Ian Bowman, Meng Kuan Lin, Yu-Chi Sun, Quanxin Wang, Elise Shen, Lijuan Liu, Joel D. Hahn, Joshua T. Hatfield, Anan Li, Maitham Naeemi, Hui Gong, Xiaoli Qi, Partha P. Mitra, Hideki Kondo, Philip R. Nicovich, Pavel Osten, Hongkui Zeng, Muye Zhu, Sarojini M. Attili, Brian Zingg, Anthony M. Zador, Stephan Fischer, Bing-Xing Huo, Shenqin Yao, Nicholas N. Foster, Philip Lesnar, Rodrigo Muñoz-Castañeda, Ali Cetin, Young Gyun Park, Arun Narasimhan, Kwanghun Chuang, Lin Gou, Hong-Wei Dong, Yimin Wang, Chris Sin Park, Rhonda Drewes, and Jason Huang
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Synapse ,Cell type ,Laminar organization ,Computer science ,Motor control ,Neuroinformatics ,Cellular Anatomy ,Primary motor cortex ,Projection neuron ,Neuroscience - Abstract
An essential step toward understanding brain function is to establish a cellular-resolution structural framework upon which multi-scale and multi-modal information spanning molecules, cells, circuits and systems can be integrated and interpreted. Here, through a collaborative effort from the Brain Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN), we derive a comprehensive cell type-based description of one brain structure - the primary motor cortex upper limb area (MOp-ul) of the mouse. Applying state-of-the-art labeling, imaging, computational, and neuroinformatics tools, we delineated the MOp-ul within the Mouse Brain 3D Common Coordinate Framework (CCF). We defined over two dozen MOp-ul projection neuron (PN) types by their anterograde targets; the spatial distribution of their somata defines 11 cortical sublayers, a significant refinement of the classic notion of cortical laminar organization. We further combine multiple complementary tracing methods (classic tract tracing, cell type-based anterograde, retrograde, and transsynaptic viral tracing, high-throughput BARseq, and complete single cell reconstruction) to systematically chart cell type-based MOp input-output streams. As PNs link distant brain regions at synapses as well as host cellular gene expression, our construction of a PN type resolution MOp-ul wiring diagram will facilitate an integrated analysis of motor control circuitry across the molecular, cellular, and systems levels. This work further provides a roadmap towards a cellular resolution description of mammalian brain architecture.
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- 2020
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15. Morphological diversity of single neurons in molecularly defined cell types
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Anan Li, Elise Shen, Lijuan Liu, Wan Wan, Hui Gong, Yanjun Duan, Rachel A. Dalley, Sujun Zhao, Luke Esposito, Zhixi Yun, Shaoqun Zeng, An Liu, Susan M. Sunkin, Zhi Zhou, Tanya L. Daigle, Jintao Pan, Liya Ding, Yaoyao Li, Chris Hill, Yimin Wang, Yefeng Zheng, Qingming Luo, Phil Lesnar, Karla E. Hirokawa, Zijun Zhao, Christof Koch, Qi Li, Ping He, Donghuan Lu, Staci A. Sorensen, Longfei Li, Zhongze Gu, Xiangning Li, Zhangcan Ding, Lei Qu, Jia Yuan, Hsien-Chi Kuo, Aaron Feiner, Stephanie Mok, Julie A. Harris, Jing Yuan, Yang Yu, Qiang Ouyang, Z. Josh Huang, X. William Yang, Guodong Hong, Thuc Nghi Nguyen, Rachael Larsen, Michael Hawrylycz, Wenjie Xu, Peng Wang, Chao Chen, Wei Xiong, Hongkui Zeng, Mengya Chen, Zongcai Ruan, Feng Xiong, Shichen Zhang, Lydia Ng, Min Ye, Wayne Wakeman, Peng Xie, Yaping Wang, Quanxin Wang, Yun Wang, Sara Kebede, Bosiljka Tasic, Lulu Yin, Yuanyuan Song, Tao Wang, Lei Huang, Wei Xie, Zizhen Yao, Matthew B. Veldman, Yuanyuan Li, Xiuli Kuang, Shengdian Jiang, and Hanchuan Peng
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Cell type ,Neurogenesis ,Neocortex ,Biology ,Neural circuits ,Article ,Atlases as Topic ,Cellular neuroscience ,Biological neural network ,medicine ,Feature (machine learning) ,Humans ,RNA-Seq ,Axon ,Projection (set theory) ,Cell Shape ,Neurons ,Multidisciplinary ,Brain ,Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental ,Reproducibility of Results ,Claustrum ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Evolutionary biology ,Single-Cell Analysis ,Neuroglia ,Function (biology) ,Biomarkers - Abstract
Dendritic and axonal morphology reflects the input and output of neurons and is a defining feature of neuronal types1,2, yet our knowledge of its diversity remains limited. Here, to systematically examine complete single-neuron morphologies on a brain-wide scale, we established a pipeline encompassing sparse labelling, whole-brain imaging, reconstruction, registration and analysis. We fully reconstructed 1,741 neurons from cortex, claustrum, thalamus, striatum and other brain regions in mice. We identified 11 major projection neuron types with distinct morphological features and corresponding transcriptomic identities. Extensive projectional diversity was found within each of these major types, on the basis of which some types were clustered into more refined subtypes. This diversity follows a set of generalizable principles that govern long-range axonal projections at different levels, including molecular correspondence, divergent or convergent projection, axon termination pattern, regional specificity, topography, and individual cell variability. Although clear concordance with transcriptomic profiles is evident at the level of major projection type, fine-grained morphological diversity often does not readily correlate with transcriptomic subtypes derived from unsupervised clustering, highlighting the need for single-cell cross-modality studies. Overall, our study demonstrates the crucial need for quantitative description of complete single-cell anatomy in cell-type classification, as single-cell morphological diversity reveals a plethora of ways in which different cell types and their individual members may contribute to the configuration and function of their respective circuits., Sparse labelling and whole-brain imaging are used to reconstruct and classify brain-wide complete morphologies of 1,741 individual neurons in the mouse brain, revealing a dependence on both brain region and transcriptomic profile.
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- 2020
16. Mapping cellular-scale internal mechanics in 3D tissues with thermally responsive hydrogel probes
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Sara Al Habyan, Charles Ledoux, Katherine N. MacDonald, Luke McCaffrey, Stephanie Mok, Wontae Lee, and Christopher Moraes
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0301 basic medicine ,Cell physiology ,Cellular pathology ,Science ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Biosensing Techniques ,02 engineering and technology ,Smart material ,Models, Biological ,Article ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Cell Line ,Mice ,03 medical and health sciences ,Rigidity (electromagnetism) ,In vivo ,Spheroids, Cellular ,Animals ,Humans ,lcsh:Science ,Biophysical methods ,Tumor microenvironment ,Multidisciplinary ,Chemistry ,Temperature ,Spheroid ,Hydrogels ,Neoplasms, Experimental ,General Chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Elasticity ,Biomechanical Phenomena ,030104 developmental biology ,Cancer cell ,Biophysics ,lcsh:Q ,0210 nano-technology ,Biomedical engineering ,Biotechnology - Abstract
Local tissue mechanics play a critical role in cell function, but measuring these properties at cellular length scales in living 3D tissues can present considerable challenges. Here we present thermoresponsive, smart material microgels that can be dispersed or injected into tissues and optically assayed to measure residual tissue elasticity after creep over several weeks. We first develop and characterize the sensors, and demonstrate that internal mechanical profiles of live multicellular spheroids can be mapped at high resolutions to reveal broad ranges of rigidity within the tissues, which vary with subtle differences in spheroid aggregation method. We then show that small sites of unexpectedly high rigidity develop in invasive breast cancer spheroids, and in an in vivo mouse model of breast cancer progression. These focal sites of increased intratumoral rigidity suggest new possibilities for how early mechanical cues that drive cancer cells towards invasion might arise within the evolving tumor microenvironment., Local mechanical properties are important to cellular function; but conventional measurement techniques are limited in intact, living, 3D tissues. Here, the authors report on swellable hydrogel microparticles to monitor mechanical properties in situ via a temperature change.
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- 2020
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17. Human cortical expansion involves diversification and specialization of supragranular intratelencephalic-projecting neurons
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Sergey L. Gratiy, Sara Kebede, Chris Hill, Clare Gamlin, Jeffrey G. Ojemann, Tom Egdorf, Ed S. Lein, Lydia Potekhina, Alice Mukora, Shea Ransford, Matthew Mallory, Tim S. Heistek, Jonathan T. Ting, Gábor Tamás, Philip C. De Witt Hamer, Rebecca de Frates, Medea McGraw, Gábor Molnár, Jim Berg, Szabina Furdan, Patrick R. Hof, Natalia A. Goriounova, David Feng, David Reid, Elliot R. Thomsen, Michael Tieu, Katelyn Ward, C. Dirk Keene, Florence D’Orazi, Mean Hwan Kim, Daniel Park, Amy Torkelson, Agata Budzillo, Katherine Baker, Michael Hawrylycz, Krissy Brouner, Andrew L. Ko, DiJon Hill, Kyla Berry, Peter Chong, Jessica Trinh, Desiree A. Marshall, Katherine E. Link, Brian Lee, Jasmine Bomben, Aaron Szafer, Gabe J. Murphy, Viktor Szemenyei, Madie Hupp, Lauren Alfiler, Nick Dee, Zizhen Yao, Luke Esposito, Tamara Casper, Erica J. Melief, Susan M. Sunkin, Lindsay Ng, Hongkui Zeng, Pál Barzó, Allison Beller, Lydia Ng, Charles Cobbs, Darren Bertagnolli, Kiet Ngo, Bosiljka Tasic, John W. Phillips, Christine Rimorin, Alex M. Henry, Aaron Oldre, Michelle Maxwell, Wayne Wakeman, Delissa McMillen, Amanda Gary, Tsega Desta, Nathan Hansen, Hong Gu, Julie Nyhus, Staci A. Sorensen, Gáspár Oláh, Thomas Chartrand, Kirsten Crichton, Matthew Kroll, Josef Sulc, Jeremy A. Miller, Amy Bernard, Lisa Kim, Herman Tung, Idan Segev, Kristen Hadley, David Sandman, Anoop P. Patel, Colin Farrell, Allan R. Jones, Lisa Keene, Sander Idema, Changkyu Lee, Stephanie Mok, Augustin Ruiz, Caitlin S. Latimer, Tim Jarsky, Kris Bickley, Anton Arkhipov, Ramkumar Rajanbabu, Thomas Braun, Costas A. Anastassiou, Anatoly Buchin, Nathan W. Gouwens, Philip R. Nicovich, Richard G. Ellenbogen, Olivia Fong, Grace Williams, Rachel Enstrom, Rachel A. Dalley, Daniel L. Silbergeld, Attila Ozsvár, Kimberly A. Smith, Ryder P. Gwinn, Songlin Ding, Rafael Yuste, Manuel Ferreira, Victoria Omstead, Samuel Dingman Lee, Norbert Mihut, Hanchuan Peng, Brian E. Kalmbach, Eliza Barkan, Melissa Gorham, Boaz P. Levi, Trygve E. Bakken, Jeff Goldy, Djai B. Heyer, Nadezhda Dotson, Rusty Mann, Rebecca D. Hodge, Christof Koch, René Wilbers, Leona Mezei, Eline J. Mertens, Jae-Geun Yoon, Anna A. Galakhova, Christina A. Pom, Trangthanh Pham, Alexandra Glandon, Christiaan P. J. de Kock, Lucas T. Graybuck, and Huibert D. Mansvelder
- Subjects
0303 health sciences ,Cell type ,Neocortex ,Neurofilament ,Biology ,Transcriptome ,03 medical and health sciences ,Glutamatergic ,0302 clinical medicine ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Cortex (anatomy) ,Specialization (functional) ,medicine ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Function (biology) ,030304 developmental biology - Abstract
The neocortex is disproportionately expanded in human compared to mouse, both in its total volume relative to subcortical structures and in the proportion occupied by supragranular layers that selectively make connections within the cortex and other telencephalic structures. Single-cell transcriptomic analyses of human and mouse cortex show an increased diversity of glutamatergic neuron types in supragranular cortex in human and pronounced gradients as a function of cortical depth. To probe the functional and anatomical correlates of this transcriptomic diversity, we describe a robust Patch-seq platform using neurosurgically-resected human tissues. We characterize the morphological and physiological properties of five transcriptomically defined human glutamatergic supragranular neuron types. Three of these types have properties that are specialized compared to the more homogeneous properties of transcriptomically defined homologous mouse neuron types. The two remaining supragranular neuron types, located exclusively in deep layer 3, do not have clear mouse homologues in supragranular cortex but are transcriptionally most similar to deep layer mouse intratelencephalic-projecting neuron types. Furthermore, we reveal the transcriptomic types in deep layer 3 that express high levels of non-phosphorylated heavy chain neurofilament protein that label long-range neurons known to be selectively depleted in Alzheimer’s disease. Together, these results demonstrate the power of transcriptomic cell type classification, provide a mechanistic underpinning for increased complexity of cortical function in human cortical evolution, and implicate discrete transcriptomic cell types as selectively vulnerable in disease.
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- 2020
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18. Mechanobiological regulation of placental trophoblast fusion and function through extracellular matrix rigidity
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Cathy Vaillancourt, Stephanie Mok, Zhenwei Parameshwar Ma, Christopher Moraes, and Lucas Sagrillo-Fagundes
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0301 basic medicine ,Placenta ,Acrylic Resins ,lcsh:Medicine ,02 engineering and technology ,Article ,Extracellular matrix ,03 medical and health sciences ,Syncytiotrophoblast ,Pregnancy ,medicine ,Extracellular ,Humans ,Tissue engineering ,lcsh:Science ,reproductive and urinary physiology ,Myosin Type II ,Multidisciplinary ,Chemistry ,lcsh:R ,Trophoblast ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Placental disease ,medicine.disease ,Cell biology ,Biomechanical Phenomena ,Extracellular Matrix ,Trophoblasts ,Tissues ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Mechanisms of disease ,Microscopy, Fluorescence ,embryonic structures ,lcsh:Q ,Female ,Cytotrophoblasts ,0210 nano-technology ,Function (biology) - Abstract
The syncytiotrophoblast is a multinucleated layer that plays a critical role in regulating functions of the human placenta during pregnancy. Maintaining the syncytiotrophoblast layer relies on ongoing fusion of mononuclear cytotrophoblasts throughout pregnancy, and errors in this fusion process are associated with complications such as preeclampsia. While biochemical factors are known to drive fusion, the role of disease-specific extracellular biophysical cues remains undefined. Since substrate mechanics play a crucial role in several diseases, and preeclampsia is associated with placental stiffening, we hypothesize that trophoblast fusion is mechanically regulated by substrate stiffness. We developed stiffness-tunable polyacrylamide substrate formulations that match the linear elasticity of placental tissue in normal and disease conditions, and evaluated trophoblast morphology, fusion, and function on these surfaces. Our results demonstrate that morphology, fusion, and hormone release is mechanically-regulated via myosin-II; optimal on substrates that match healthy placental tissue stiffness; and dysregulated on disease-like and supraphysiologically-stiff substrates. We further demonstrate that stiff regions in heterogeneous substrates provide dominant physical cues that inhibit fusion, suggesting that even focal tissue stiffening limits widespread trophoblast fusion and tissue function. These results confirm that mechanical microenvironmental cues influence fusion in the placenta, provide critical information needed to engineer better in vitro models for placental disease, and may ultimately be used to develop novel mechanically-mediated therapeutic strategies to resolve fusion-related disorders during pregnancy.
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- 2020
19. A taxonomy of transcriptomic cell types across the isocortex and hippocampal formation
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Susan M. Sunkin, Qingzhong Ren, Michael Tieu, Fahimeh Baftizadeh, Kimberly A. Smith, Boaz P. Levi, Kanan Lathia, Olivia Fong, James Gray, Lucas T. Graybuck, Jeff Goldy, Bosiljka Tasic, Christine Rimorin, Thuc Nghi Nguyen, Kirsten Crichton, Josef Sulc, Songlin Ding, Darren Bertagnolli, Zizhen Yao, Hongkui Zeng, Delissa McMillen, Cindy T. J. van Velthoven, Katelyn Ward, Alexandra Glandon, Thanh Pham, Herman Tung, Amy Torkelson, Nick Dee, Nadiya V. Shapovalova, Stephanie Mok, Emma Garren, Matthew Kroll, Tamara Casper, Adriana E. Sedeno-Cortes, and Daniel Hirschstein
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Transcriptome ,Glutamatergic ,Cell type ,Cellular composition ,Spatial distribution pattern ,Biology ,Hippocampal formation ,GABAergic neuron ,Neuroscience ,Neuron types - Abstract
SUMMARYThe isocortex and hippocampal formation are two major structures in the mammalian brain that play critical roles in perception, cognition, emotion and learning. Both structures contain multiple regions, for many of which the cellular composition is still poorly understood. In this study, we used two complementary single-cell RNA-sequencing approaches, SMART-Seq and 10x, to profile ∼1.2 million cells covering all regions in the adult mouse isocortex and hippocampal formation, and derived a cell type taxonomy comprising 379 transcriptomic types. The completeness of coverage enabled us to define gene expression variations across the entire spatial landscape without significant gaps. We found that cell types are organized in a hierarchical manner and exhibit varying degrees of discrete or continuous relatedness with each other. Such molecular relationships correlate strongly with the spatial distribution patterns of the cell types, which can be region-specific, or shared across multiple regions, or part of one or more gradients along with other cell types. Glutamatergic neuron types have much greater diversity than GABAergic neuron types, both molecularly and spatially, and they define regional identities as well as inter-region relationships. For example, we found that glutamatergic cell types between the isocortex and hippocampal formation are highly distinct from each other yet possess shared molecular signatures and corresponding layer specificities, indicating their homologous relationships. Overall, our study establishes a molecular architecture of the mammalian isocortex and hippocampal formation for the first time, and begins to shed light on its underlying relationship with the development, evolution, connectivity and function of these two brain structures.
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- 2020
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20. A Taxonomy of Transcriptomic Cell Types Across the Isocortex and Hippocampal Formation
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James Gray, Adriana E. Sedeno-Cortes, Michael Tieu, Songlin Ding, Michael Hawrylycz, Herman Tung, Olivia Fong, Matthew Kroll, Stephanie Mok, Zizhen Yao, Darren Bertagnolli, Fahimeh Baftizadeh, Thanh Pham, Delissa McMillen, Thuc Nghi Nguyen, Hongkui Zeng, Tamara Casper, Katelyn Ward, Emma Garren, Kimberly A. Smith, Qingzhong Ren, Christine Rimorin, Jeff Goldy, Alexandra Glandon, Kanan Lathia, Lucas T. Graybuck, Amy Torkelson, Nick Dee, Nadiya V. Shapovalova, Susan M. Sunkin, Daniel Hirschstein, Bosiljka Tasic, Kirsten Crichton, Josef Sulc, Boaz P. Levi, and Cindy T. J. van Velthoven
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Transcriptome ,Cell type ,Glutamatergic ,Neocortex ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Taxonomy (general) ,medicine ,Hippocampus ,Hippocampal formation ,Biology ,Neuroscience ,Function (biology) - Abstract
The isocortex and hippocampal formation are two major structures in the mammalian brain that play critical roles in perception, cognition, emotion and learning. Using single-cell RNA-sequencing approaches, we profiled ~1.2 million cells covering all regions in the adult mouse isocortex and hippocampal formation. The cell types are organized hierarchically and exhibit varying degrees of discrete or continuous variations. Such molecular relationships correlate strongly with the spatial distribution patterns of the cell types, which can be region-specific, shared across multiple regions, or part of one or more gradients. Glutamatergic neuron types display much greater diversity than GABAergic neuron types, both molecularly and spatially, and define regional identities as well as inter-region relationships. Our study establishes a molecular architecture of the mammalian isocortex and hippocampal formation for the first time, and begins to shed light on its underlying relationship with the development, evolution, connectivity and function of these two brain structures.
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- 2020
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21. Mapping cellular-scale internal stiffness in 3D tissues with smart material hydrogel probes
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Christopher Moraes, Katherine N. MacDonald, Stephanie Mok, Ledoux C, Wontae Lee, Luke McCaffrey, and Al Habyan S
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0303 health sciences ,Tumor microenvironment ,Chemistry ,Spheroid ,Stiffness ,High stiffness ,02 engineering and technology ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Smart material ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cancer cell ,Active cell ,medicine ,Tissue stiffness ,medicine.symptom ,0210 nano-technology ,030304 developmental biology ,Biomedical engineering - Abstract
Local stiffness plays a critical role in cell function, but measuring rigidity at cellular length scales in living 3D tissues presents considerable challenges. Here we present thermoresponsive, smart material microgels that can be dispersed or injected into tissues and optically assayed to measure internal tissue stiffness over several weeks. We first develop the material design principles to measure tissue stiffness across physiological ranges, with spatial resolutions approaching that of individual cells. Using the microfabricated sensors, we demonstrate that mapping internal stiffness profiles of live multicellular spheroids at high resolutions reveal distinct architectural patterns, that vary with subtle differences in spheroid aggregation method. Finally, we determine that small sites of unexpectedly high stiffness (> 250 kPa) develop in invasive breast cancer spheroids, and inin vivomouse model tumors as the cancer progresses towards metastatic disease. These highly focal sites of increased intratumoral stiffness likely form via active cell mechanical behavior, and suggest new possibilities for how early mechanical cues that drive cancer cells towards invasion might arise within the evolving tumor microenvironment.
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- 2019
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22. Complete Whole-Brain Single Neuron Reconstruction Reveals Morphological Diversity in Molecularly Defined Claustral and Cortical Neuron Types
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Z. Josh Huang, Matthew B. Veldman, Yang Yu, Sara Kebede, Philip Lesnar, Thuc Nghi Nguyen, Anan Li, Zhi Zhou, Chris Hill, Susan M. Sunkin, Hanchuan Peng, Shaoqun Zeng, Yaoyao Li, Qingming Luo, Li Xiangning, Lei Qu, Karla E. Hirokawa, Elise Shen, Lijuan Liu, Yimin Wang, X. William Yang, Michael Hawrylycz, Lydia Ng, Hui Gong, Peng Xie, Sujun Zhao, Xiuli Kuang, Tanya L. Daigle, Aaron Feiner, Zizhen Yao, Christof Koch, Shengdian Jiang, Stephanie Mok, Jing Yuan, Hongkui Zeng, Lulu Ying, Rachael Larsen, Staci A. Sorensen, Julie A. Harris, Luke Esposito, Yun Wang, Bosiljka Tasic, Yuanyuan Song, Quanxin Wang, and Wayne Wakeman
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Fluorescent labelling ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Feature (computer vision) ,Cortical neuron ,Cortex (anatomy) ,medicine ,Neuron ,Biology ,Fluorescent imaging ,Neuroscience ,Claustrum - Abstract
Dendritic and axonal morphology is a defining feature of neuronal types and their connectivity. Yet our knowledge concerning the diversity of neuronal morphology is extremely limited. To systematically obtain single neuron full morphology on a brain-wide scale in mice, we established a pipeline that encompasses five major components: sparse labeling, whole-brain imaging, reconstruction, registration, and classification. We achieved sparse, robust and consistent fluorescent labeling by combining transgenic or viral Cre delivery with novel transgenic reporter lines, and generated whole-brain fluorescent imaging datasets containing tens of thousands of reconstructable neurons. We developed software tools for large-volume image data processing and computer-assisted morphological reconstruction. For a proof-of-principle, we reconstructed the full morphologies of 96 neurons from the claustrum and cortex that belong to a single transcriptomically-defined subclass, and classified them into multiple morphological types, suggesting that they work in a targeted and coordinated manner to process cortical information over a large region.
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- 2019
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23. A taxonomy of transcriptomic cell types across the isocortex and hippocampal formation
- Author
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Zizhen Yao, Olivia Fong, Thanh Pham, Katelyn Ward, James Gray, Susan M. Sunkin, Stephanie Mok, Hongkui Zeng, Songlin Ding, Boaz P. Levi, Qingzhong Ren, Daniel Hirschstein, Emma Garren, Nick Dee, Megan Chiang, Fahimeh Baftizadeh, Christine Rimorin, Kanan Lathia, Herman Tung, Cindy T. J. van Velthoven, Darren Bertagnolli, Nadiya V. Shapovalova, Lucas T. Graybuck, Jeff Goldy, Michael Tieu, Delissa McMillen, Kimberly A. Smith, Michael Hawrylycz, Bosiljka Tasic, Amy Torkelson, Kirsten Crichton, Josef Sulc, Alexandra Glandon, Nathan W. Gouwens, Thuc Nghi Nguyen, Tamara Casper, Matthew Kroll, Adriana E. Sedeno-Cortes, and Changkyu Lee
- Subjects
Cell type ,Interneuron ,Glutamic Acid ,Hippocampus ,Mice, Transgenic ,Neocortex ,Hippocampal formation ,Biology ,Article ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Glutamatergic ,0302 clinical medicine ,Cortex (anatomy) ,medicine ,Animals ,GABAergic Neurons ,030304 developmental biology ,0303 health sciences ,Subiculum ,Mice, Inbred C57BL ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,GABAergic ,Transcriptome ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
The isocortex and hippocampal formation (HPF) in the mammalian brain play critical roles in perception, cognition, emotion, and learning. We profiled ∼1.3 million cells covering the entire adult mouse isocortex and HPF and derived a transcriptomic cell-type taxonomy revealing a comprehensive repertoire of glutamatergic and GABAergic neuron types. Contrary to the traditional view of HPF as having a simpler cellular organization, we discover a complete set of glutamatergic types in HPF homologous to all major subclasses found in the six-layered isocortex, suggesting that HPF and the isocortex share a common circuit organization. We also identify large-scale continuous and graded variations of cell types along isocortical depth, across the isocortical sheet, and in multiple dimensions in hippocampus and subiculum. Overall, our study establishes a molecular architecture of the mammalian isocortex and hippocampal formation and begins to shed light on its underlying relationship with the development, evolution, connectivity, and function of these two brain structures.
- Published
- 2021
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24. Micropocket hydrogel devices for all-in-one formation, assembly, and analysis of aggregate-based tissues
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Lisa Zhao, Stephanie Mok, and Christopher Moraes
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Polyacrylamide Hydrogel ,Culture model ,Computer science ,0206 medical engineering ,Biomedical Engineering ,Bioengineering ,02 engineering and technology ,Biochemistry ,Biomaterials ,Tissue culture ,Tissue engineering ,Cell Movement ,Cell Line, Tumor ,Spheroids, Cellular ,Humans ,Cell Aggregation ,Cell Size ,Tissue Engineering ,Aggregate (data warehouse) ,Hydrogels ,General Medicine ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,020601 biomedical engineering ,Cell aggregation ,Extracellular Matrix ,3. Good health ,Scalability ,Microtechnology ,0210 nano-technology ,Biological system ,Biotechnology ,Biofabrication - Abstract
Multicellular aggregated tissues have grown critically important in benchtop biomedical research, both as stand-alone spheroids and when assembled into larger bioengineered constructs. However, typical systems for aggregate formation are limited in their capacity to reliably handle such cultures at various experimental stages in a broadly accessible, consistent, and scalable manner. In this work, we develop a broadly versatile all-in-one biofabrication strategy to form uniform, spherical, multicellular aggregates that can be maintained at precisely defined positions for analysis or transfer into a larger tissue. The 3D-printed MicroPocket Culture (MPoC) system consists of an array of simple geometry-based valves in a polyacrylamide hydrogel, and is able to produce hundreds of uniformly-sized aggregates in standard tissue culture well plates, using simple tools that are readily available in all standard biological wet-labs. The model breast cancer aggregates formed in these experiments are retained in defined positions on chip during all liquid handling steps required to stimulate, label, and image the experiment, enabling high-throughput studies on this culture model. Furthermore, MPoCs enable robust formation of aggregates in cell types that do not conventionally form such structures. Finally, we demonstrate that this single platform can also be used to generate complex 3D tissues from the precisely-positioned aggregate building blocks. To highlight the unique and broad versatility of this technique, we develop a simple 3D invasion assay and show that cancer cells preferentially migrate towards nearby model tumors; demonstrating the importance of spatial precision when engineering 3D tissues. Together, this platform presents a broadly accessible and uniquely capable system with which to develop advanced aggregate-based models for tissue engineering, fundamental research, and applied drug discovery.
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- 2019
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25. Thinking big by thinking small: advances in mechanobiology across the length scales
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Stephanie Mok and Christopher Moraes
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0301 basic medicine ,Cognitive science ,030102 biochemistry & molecular biology ,Tissue Engineering ,Normal tissue ,Biophysics ,Cell behaviour ,Biology ,Biochemistry ,Biomechanical Phenomena ,03 medical and health sciences ,Mechanobiology ,Cellular Microenvironment ,Animals ,Humans ,Engineering principles - Abstract
The field of mechanobiology provides an integrative understanding of biology and engineering principles. Mechanical forces are now well-established to provide a physical stimulus to help maintain normal tissue function, yet little is understood as to how forces experienced at various length scales influence cell behaviour and tissue function. In this Research Highlight, we describe recent technical innovations that have enabled advanced insight into the cellular microenvironment across a range of length scales.
- Published
- 2016
26. Abstract 5208: Neovascularization in brain metastasis is through both angiogenesis and vasculogenesis
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Lee-Cyn Ang, Christopher J. Howlett, Zia A. Khan, and Stephanie Mok
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CD31 ,Cancer Research ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Angiogenesis ,business.industry ,Melanoma ,Brain tumor ,Cancer ,medicine.disease ,Neovascularization ,Vasculogenesis ,Oncology ,medicine ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Brain metastasis - Abstract
Metastatic brain tumors are the most common brain tumor in adults with an incidence 10 times greater than primary brain tumors. A variety of malignancies eventually spread to the brain, with a majority arising from cancers of the lung, breast, kidney, and skin. Experimental studies using breast and melanoma cell lines have recently shown that growth of metastatic brain tumors may occur by utilizing pre-existing blood vessel, or by co-opting rather than inducing new vessel formation. Whether the same mechanisms of vascular utilization and expansion play a role in human metastatic brain tumors is unknown and is the focus of the present study. We examined the immuno-phenotype of blood vessels in primary and metastatic human brain tumors to determine the presence of new blood vessels formation. Glioblastoma multiforme (n = 12) and secondary tumors from melanoma (n = 10), breast (n = 10), kidney (n = 5), and lung (n = 13) all showed extensive immunoreactivity for endothelial marker CD31. We also found a significant number of endothelial cells expressing Ki-67, most notably among breast carcinoma, glioblastoma multiforme and melanoma cases, indicating microvessel proliferation and angiogenesis. Interestingly, both primary and secondary metastatic tumors also showed vascular endothelial cells concomitantly expressing stem cell markers, such as Oct4, suggesting that some of these microvessels are derived through vasculogenesis. These findings show that both proliferation of endothelial cells and de novo endothelial differentiation may underlie metastatic tumor growth to different degrees depending on their site of primary origin. Currently, our laboratory is determining the exact contribution of angiogenesis and vasculogenesis in brain metastasis. Our findings show that neo-vessels are evident in brain metastasis. Elucidating the source of these vessels may uncover new treatment targets for patients with brain metastasis. Citation Format: Stephanie Mok, Lee-Cyn Ang, Christopher J. Howlett, Zia A. Khan. Neovascularization in brain metastasis is through both angiogenesis and vasculogenesis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 5208. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-5208
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- 2015
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27. Abstract 4087: Epithelial to mesenchymal transition in the metastatic progression of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors
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Douglas Quan, Christopher J. Howlett, Zia A. Khan, and Stephanie Mok
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Cancer Research ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Vimentin ,Neuroendocrine tumors ,Biology ,medicine.disease ,Phenotype ,Metastasis ,Oncology ,Gene expression ,medicine ,biology.protein ,Immunohistochemistry ,Epithelial–mesenchymal transition ,Signal transduction - Abstract
Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) are malignant epithelial cancer arising from the diffuse neuroendocrine system. Diagnosis is usually made late in the disease course, with 60-80% of diagnosed cases presenting with, or developing metastatic disease. The lack of biomarkers indicative of aggressive behavior, in particular metastasis, hinders prognosis and proper treatment of GEP-NETs. A cellular process underlying the aggressive behavior of cancer is epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). In this study, we aimed to determine whether EMT is involved in the pathogenesis of NETs. Using tissue samples from NETs arising from small intestine (SI-NET), pancreas (P-NETs), and colorectum (C-NETs), we have examined EMT and profiled the signaling mechanisms involved. Initial studies utilizing targeted real-time PCR-based gene profiling comparing primary (n = 9) and metastatic (n = 4) SI-NETs relative to control (normal small bowel epithelium, n = 3) revealed gene expression profiles suggestive of EMT and cell guidance in both primary and metastatic tumors, including elevation of vascular endothelial growth factor signaling, changes in matrix remodeling genes, and abundant transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) receptor 1. A more comprehensive examination of the EMT phenotype was then undertaken based on primary site of origin. RNA samples from P-NETs (n = 9), SI-NETs (n = 8), and C-NETs (n = 8) were used for gene expression studies utilizing an EMT-focused PCR array. Changes in gene expression profiles consistent with an EMT phenotype were seen across all primary sites, including elevated expression of transcription factors SMAD2, ZEB1/2, HIF-1α. Differential expression of TGF-β family receptor ligands, including TGF-β1 and BMP2, was observed when comparing results from NETs of different primary sites, suggesting alternate signaling pathways leading to EMT. Confirmatory immunohistochemistry studies were then carried out, demonstrating an EMT phenotype as evidenced by loss of E-cadherin/β-catenin expression and/or vimentin induction in 42% of cases (n = 52). Well-differentiated GEP-NETs, while morphologically similar, are extremely heterogeneous in both clinical presentation and outcome. We have examined a series of 52 GEP-NETs, of which 77% either presented with, or eventually developed metastatic disease. EMT is likely a key process by which this occurs, as we observe expression changes in EMT-associated genes across all subtypes of GEP-NETs, and an EMT phenotype by immunohistochemistry in 42% of the tumors. Our gene expression studies suggest that differential TGF-β family signaling is a key mediator in driving EMT, however, the specific pathway may involve different factors depending on the site of NET origin. Future studies are needed to elucidate the exact pathways involved in this process. Citation Format: Stephanie Mok, Zia A. Khan, Douglas Quan, Christopher J. Howlett. Epithelial to mesenchymal transition in the metastatic progression of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4087. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4087
- Published
- 2015
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