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Foster, Peter

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Foster

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Foster, Peter
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.90051aaa-bf2d-4ffb-bb69-bd76fa073c0c

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    Active contraction of microtubule networks
    (eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd, 2015) Foster, Peter; Furthauer, Sebastian; Shelley, Michael J; Needleman, Daniel
    Many cellular processes are driven by cytoskeletal assemblies. It remains unclear how cytoskeletal filaments and motor proteins organize into cellular scale structures and how molecular properties of cytoskeletal components affect the large-scale behaviors of these systems. Here, we investigate the self-organization of stabilized microtubules in Xenopus oocyte extracts and find that they can form macroscopic networks that spontaneously contract. We propose that these contractions are driven by the clustering of microtubule minus ends by dynein. Based on this idea, we construct an active fluid theory of network contractions, which predicts a dependence of the timescale of contraction on initial network geometry, a development of density inhomogeneities during contraction, a constant final network density, and a strong influence of dynein inhibition on the rate of contraction, all in quantitative agreement with experiments. These results demonstrate that the motor-driven clustering of filament ends is a generic mechanism leading to contraction. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10837.001
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    Developing and Testing a Bayesian Analysis of Fluorescence Lifetime Measurements
    (Public Library of Science, 2017) Kaye, Bryan; Foster, Peter; Yoo, Tae Yeon; Needleman, Daniel
    FRET measurements can provide dynamic spatial information on length scales smaller than the diffraction limit of light. Several methods exist to measure FRET between fluorophores, including Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM), which relies on the reduction of fluorescence lifetime when a fluorophore is undergoing FRET. FLIM measurements take the form of histograms of photon arrival times, containing contributions from a mixed population of fluorophores both undergoing and not undergoing FRET, with the measured distribution being a mixture of exponentials of different lifetimes. Here, we present an analysis method based on Bayesian inference that rigorously takes into account several experimental complications. We test the precision and accuracy of our analysis on controlled experimental data and verify that we can faithfully extract model parameters, both in the low-photon and low-fraction regimes.