The Biophysical Society's Annual Art of Science Image Contest took place this year during the 66th Annual Meeting in San Diego. The third place winning image was submitted by Hongyin Wang, a postdoctoral researcher in the Levental Lab at the University of Virginia. Wang took some time to provide information about the image and the science it represents.
How did you compose this image?
Signaling proteins LAT, Grb2, and Sos1 for T cells formed protein condensates (green, alexa488 labeled LAT) on a synthetic DOPC lipid membrane (red, Fast-DiI) that prepared through spin coating. The condensates mainly accumulated on the boundary of the heart-shaped lipid membrane. The original image was taken using a regular wide field fluorescent microscope. Half of the image was mirrored to obtain a perfect shape of heart.
What do you love about this image?
The green condensates embellishing the red membrane gives a beautiful heart image. I have the passion and love for scientific research. That’s why I named this image “The heart of science.” Also, the condensates formed through liquid-liquid phase separation are mainly accumulated at the boundary of the membrane multi-bilayers. This phenomenon is very interesting, and it would be fun to study the biophysical rules behind this observation.
What do you want viewers to see/think when they view this image?
I hope this beautiful heart would convey some positive energy to the viewers. I hope it can remind the researchers to always have the passion for life, for people, and for science. Doing research is not easy, but don’t forget the happy moment that scientific research brings to us. Keep loving science and having fun!
How does this image reflect your scientific research?
Our research studies the coupling of LAT/Grb2/Sos1 condensates with lipid raft or ordered membrane domains which could regulate T cell activation. This image shows that purified proteins can successfully form condensates on synthetic membranes in vitro. Based on this, we changed the lipid compositions which could form liquid ordered domains and we observed coupling of the condensates with the domains. This coupling was also studied in Jurkat T cells, and we found that it played important roles in T cell activation.
Can you please provide a few real-world examples of your research?
Our goal is to understand how T cell activation can be regulated on the plasma membrane. Similar regulation can also be seen in other immune cells, such as mast cells and B lymphocytes. Understanding the mechanism behind these could be potentially used to regulate immunity for cancer immunotherapy, treating allergy and many other autoimmune diseases.
How might your research be relevant to those who are not working in your specific field?
Biomolecular condensates formed through protein phase separation and membrane domains formed through lipid phase separation are the two fundamental compartmentalization mechanisms for cell function regulation. The general biophysical rules studied in T cells could also be implicated in understanding other biological systems. For example, PSD95 protein condensates and lipid domains could be coupled in neural synapse.
Do you have a website where our readers can view your recent research?
This work has been published recently. More information can be found in our lab website at http://www.levental-lab.com/