© Raphael Schleutker

Research Topic

Our lab investigates how mechanical forces at the plasma membrane are translated into classical biochemical signal transduction cascades.  Mechano-chemical signal translation at cellular membranes has been shown to affect shape and migration of individual cells as well as of cellular ensembles.  However, despite its importance, the underlying molecular mechanisms have largely remained unclear.  To examine the interplay between mechanical forces and biochemical signaling, we apply an interdisciplinary approach combining classical cell biology with biophysical techniques, nanofabrication, and computational analysis of microscopic images. Together, these studies will advance our understanding of how mechanical forces contribute to signal propagation under physiological and pathological conditions.

Selected Publications

  • Mancinelli, G., and Galic, M.  (2020). Exploring the interdependence between self-organization and functional morphology in cellular systems  J Cell Sci (in press).
  • Begemann, I., Keller, U., Nüsse, H., Klingauf, J., and Galic, M.  (2020).  Parallel Acquisition of Membrane Ultrastructure and Cytosolic Protein Localization in Cultured Cells via Correlated Immunogold-SEM. Cells, 9(6), 1329.
  • Begemann, I., Saha, T., Rathmann, I., Grill, D., Golbach, L., Rasch, C., Ricker, A., Trappmann, B., Matis, M., Gerke, V., Klingauf, J., and Galic, M.  (2019)  Mechano-chemical self-organization determines search pattern in migratory cells.  Nat Phys 15, 848-857.
  • Kutty, M.P., and Galic, M.  (2019). Receptor-free Signaling at Curved Cellular Membranes. BioEssays. https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201900068.
  • Viplav, A., Saha, T. Huertas, J., Selenschik, P., Ebrahimkutty, M. P., Grill, D., Lehrich, J. Hentschel, A., Biasizzo, M., Mengoni, S., Ahrends, R., Cojocaru, V., Klingauf, J., and Galic, M.  (2019) ArhGEF37 assists Dynamin2 during clathrin-mediated endocytosis. J Cell Sci 132: jcs226530.
  • Saha, T., and Galic, M.  (2018)  Self-organization across scales: from molecules to organisms. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. DOI 10.1098/rstb/373/1747.
  • Singh, A., Saha, T., Begemann, I., Ricker, A., Nüsse, H., Klingauf, J., Galic, M., and Matis, M. (2018)  Polarized Microtubule Dynamics Directs Cell Mechanics and Coordinates Forces during Epithelial Morphogenesis.  Nat Cell Biol, 20, 126-1133.
  • Begemann, I., and Galic, M.  (2016).  Correlative Fluorescence Electron Microscopy: Connecting Synaptic Structure and Function. Front Synaptic Neurosci 2016 Aug 23 http://dx.doi.org/ 10.3389/fnsyn.2016.00028. 
  • Saha, T., Rathmann, I., Viplav, A., Panzade, S., Begemann, I., Rasch, C., Klingauf, J., Matis, M., and Galic, M. (2016).Automated analysis of filopodial length and spatially resolved protein concentration via adaptive shape tracking. Molecular biology of the cell 27, 3616-3626
  • Begemann, I., Viplav, A., Rasch, C., and Galic, M. (2015). Stochastic Micro-Pattern for Automated Correlative Fluorescence - Scanning Electron Microscopy. Scientific reports 5, 17973.