Paul MATSUDAIRA
Founding Deputy Director and Professor, Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore
Research Program
Leader, Mechanotransduction in Tissues
Affiliations
Emeritus Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore
Emeritus Professor, Centre for BioImaging Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore
Seeking Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Vascular Mechano-medicine Lab of Dr. Shailaja Seetharaman at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
We are seeking to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the research group of Dr. Shailaja Seetharaman at the Mechanobiology Institute and Department of Physiology at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS.
Yiwen Tang
Research Fellow, Chan Group
Early Career Researchers’ Day: A Launchpad for Postdocs and PhD Students
A symposium for postdoctoral researchers and PhD students to present their scientific work, network with peers, and participate in career development.
Paul Matsudaira
Emeritus Professor
Research Areas
Mechanobiology of cells and tissues on viscoelastic surfaces, nanoscale dynamics, biomaging sciences.
Research Interests
The Matsudaira Lab studies the role of mechanics in epithelial tissue migration and remodeling during development and disease. The organization and migration of epithelial tissues are sensitive to the underlying substratum, especially on visco-elastic substrates. This range of stiffness defines the environment of most basement membranes, cell-cell interactions, and early developmental processes. On the one hand, the lab is interested in the mechanical signatures of the development of chirality, convergence, and extension during the early steps in morphogenesis of the Zebrafish embryo. Other studies are focused on the role of substrate viscoelasticity in tissue remodeling during disease and its regulation by cell-matrix and cell-cell signaling pathways. In order to study complex, multi-scale dynamics the lab develops and applies novel imaging methods such as in situ TEM and strain light-sheet microscopy.
Biography
Formerly a biology and bioengineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Paul Matsudaira has studied the cytoskeleton since graduating from college. He was the EM technician of Tom Schroeder where he helped investigate the role of microfilaments in the contractile ring. As a graduate student of Dave Burgess he identified the structure and function of the intestine brush border cytoskeleton. Following postdoctoral research on the assembly of actin bundles at the MPI Biophysical Chemistry with Klaus Weber and the MRC LMB with Alan Weeds, Paul started his academic career at the Whitehead Institute and MIT where his lab studied biophysics of actin and other polymer protein bundles, mechanics of polymers and single cells motility, and developed microanalytical methods. In 2009, he moved to Singapore to establish the Centre for BioImaging Sciences, head the Department of Biological Sciences, and help found the Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore.
Education
PhD in Biological Sciences from Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
Selected Publications (5 of 177)
- Zheng J, Han SP, Chiu YJ, Yip AK, Boichat N, Pauli AR, Zhu S, Matsudaira P. 2017 Substrate viscoelasticity induces coalescence of epithelial monolayers via subcellular redistribution of vinculin. Biophys J. 113:1585-98.
- Loh D, Sen S, Bosman M, Tan SF, Zhong J, Nijhuis C, Kral P, Matsudaira P, Mirsaidov U. 2016 Multi-step nucleation of nanocrystals in aqueous solution. Nat. Chem 9:77-82.
- Ai Kia Yip, Keng-Hwee Chiam and Paul Matsudaira. Traction stress analysis and modeling reveal that amoeboid migration in confined spaces is accompanied by expansive forces and requires the structural integrity of the membrane–cortex interactions. Integrative Biology, 2015, DOI: 10.1039/ C4IB00245H. First published online 27 May 2015
- Bhattacharya D, Singh V R, Zhi C, Peter T C, Matsudaira P, Barbastathis G. 2012. Three dimensional HiLo-based structured illumination for a Digital Scanned Laser Sheet Microscopy (DSLM) in thick tissue imaging. Optics Express 20(25):27337-27347.
- Mirsaidov UM, Zheng H, Bhattacharya D, Casana Y, Matsudaira P. 2012. Imaging protein structure in water at 2.7 nm resolution by TEM. Biophys J. 102:L15-7.
Recent Publications
- Zhu S, Loo YT, Veerapathiran S, Loo TYJ, Tran BN, Teh C, Zhong J, Matsudaira P, Saunders TE, and Wohland T. Receptor binding and tortuosity explain morphogen local-to-global diffusion coefficient transition. Biophys J 2024;. [PMID: 39049492]
- Tavakoli S, Zhu S, and Matsudaira P. Cell clusters containing intestinal stem cells line, the zebrafish intestine intervillus pocket. iScience 2022; 25(5):104280. [PMID: 35586068]
- Bhattacharya D, Zhong J, Tavakoli S, Kabla A, and Matsudaira P. Strain maps characterize the symmetry of convergence and extension patterns during zebrafish gastrulation. Sci Rep 2021; 11(1):19357. [PMID: 34588480]
- Wu H, Ng DTW, Cheong I, and Matsudaira P. The degradation-promoting roles of deubiquitinases Ubp6 and Ubp3 in cytosolic and ER protein quality control. PLoS ONE 2020; 15(5):e0232755. [PMID: 32401766]
- Chan SN, Prasad R, and Matsudaira P. Genetic Selection Based on a Ste6*C-HA-Ura3 Substrate Identifies New Cytosolic Quality Control Alleles in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. G3 (Bethesda) 2020; 10(6):1879-1891. [PMID: 32299823]
- Matsudaira PT, and Verma CS. Editorial. Prog. Biophys. Mol. Biol. 2019;. [PMID: 30951764]
- Wadduwage DN, Singh VR, Choi H, Yaqoob Z, Heemskerk H, Matsudaira P, and So PTC. Near-common-path interferometer for imaging Fourier-transform spectroscopy in wide-field microscopy. Optica 2017; 4(5):546-556. [PMID: 29392168]
- Zheng JY, Han SP, Chiu Y, Yip AK, Boichat N, Zhu SW, Zhong J, and Matsudaira P. Epithelial Monolayers Coalesce on a Viscoelastic Substrate through Redistribution of Vinculin. Biophys. J. 2017;. [PMID: 28844472]
- Zheng JY, Tan HL, Matsudaira PT, and Choo A. Excess reactive oxygen species production mediates monoclonal antibody-induced human embryonic stem cell death via oncosis. Cell Death Differ. 2017;. [PMID: 28106884]
- . https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28007915
MBI Lab Members
How is transcription regulated in stem cells?
How is transcription regulated in stem cells? Pluripotent stem cells can potentially differentiate into any given cell type. They commonly exhibit mechanically softer nuclei [1], lack type-A lamins [2] and have a poorly defined [...]
How is DNA replicated?
How is DNA replicated? Cells must replicate their DNA before they can divide. This ensures that each daughter cell gets a copy of the genome, and therefore, successful inheritance of genetic traits. DNA replication [...]
What is translation?
What is translation? Translation is a process that involves the synthesis of an amino acid chain from an mRNA blueprint. These polypeptide chains fold into functional proteins. Translation occurs outside the nucleus once nuclear [...]
How does chromatin condensation keep the nucleus compact?
How does chromatin condensation keep the nucleus compact? Packaging of approximately a meter-long DNA duplex within the elastic nucleus determines its spatial 3D architecture and the genomic accessibility of tissue-specific transcriptional programs. Apart from [...]
Development
Development Development in higher order organisms commences at conception and continues into old age. With every stage of development, changes in the physical properties of cells and tissues takes place. In some cases these [...]
What are septins?
What are septins? Septins are highly conserved small GTP binding proteins of 30-65 kDa, recognized as a unique component of the cytoskeleton {reviewed in [1]}. Septin monomers assemble into hetero oligomeric complexes and polymerize [...]
What are telomeres?
What are telomeres? Telomeres are short nucleotide sequences found at the end of linear chromosomes which protect the genetic information. In vertebrates, telomeres have the hexameric sequence TTAGGG. During DNA replication, the double stranded [...]
What are septins?
What is the role of septins in infection? Host (human) septins play a role in bacterial pathogenesis [1] and in host defense mechanisms, mainly, autophagy [2]. Although actin is the most commonly exploited cytoskeletal [...]
How do bacteria modulate the host cytoskeleton?
How do bacteria modulate the host cytoskeleton? Some bacterial pathogens gain entry and subvert immune detection by surviving intracellularly. Others remain extracellular, but manipulate host pathways from outside. A common strategy employed by both [...]
What are actin pedestals?
What are actin pedestals? Actin pedestals are raised actin structures formed by the dynamic polymerization of host actin, induced by effector proteins secreted by extracellular pathogens like Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia [...]
Mechanobiology of bacterial pathogenesis
Bacterial Pathogenesis Pathogenesis is defined as the origination and development of a disease. Insights into disease etiology and progression, the two major aspects of pathogenesis, are paramount in the prevention, management and treatment of [...]
How does the heart form?
How does the heart form? The heart is derived from the splanchnic lateral mesoderm and initially forms as two crescent-shaped endocardial plates inside the evolving pericardial cavity. As the embryo undergoes lateral and cranial [...]
