LSI Seminar Series: Yamuna Krishnan, Ph.D., University of Chicago
Intracellular electrophysiology
The chemical milieu within an organelle has been evolutionarily optimized to enable the biochemistry that occurs within. The Krishnan lab studies how organelle function impacts cell function by mapping ions within the organelle lumens using a chemical imaging technology based on DNA. DNA self-assembles into molecularly precise, synthetic assemblies, commonly referred to as DNA nanodevices. Our DNA nanodevices are ion responsive, fluorescent probes that can be targeted to specific organelles. These reporters can then quantitatively image ions in organelles of cells in culture, in live multicellular organisms as well as in cells obtained from blood draws or skin biopsies from human patients.
Krishnan will focus on a recent finding where her group solved a thirty-year problem in molecular sensing by mapping lumenal calcium in acidic organelles and, in doing so, identified the first example of a human lysosomal Ca2+ importer.
Speaker
Yamuna Krishnan is a professor in the Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago. Her research lies at the interface of nucleic acid nanotechnology and organelle biology. The Kirshnan lab tries to understand the functions from DNA beyond that of its traditional role as the genetic material. The group develops versatile, chemical imaging technologies using self-assembled DNA nanostructures to quantitatively image second messengers in real time, in living cells and genetic model organisms. Among her accolades are the Bhatnagar Prize for the Chemical Sciences, the Infosys Prize for Physical Sciences, the Sun Pharma Foundation Award for Basic Medical Research, the Ono Pharma foundation Breakthrough Science Award and most recently the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award.