EXC 1003 FF-2013-03 - Analysis of new actin regulators controlling cell shape, cell dynamics and cell polarity in Drosophila hemocytes

Basic data for this project

Description

Drosophila blood cells (hemocytes) are an excellent model system for studying conserved gene functions in actin dynamics driven processes such as directional cell migration, phagocytosis or wound healing in a physiological environment. In order to identify new gene functions required for cell shape and cell migration we started to perform a RNAi screen in Drosophila hemocytes. High-resolution SIM and Spinning-Disc imaging techniques allows a precise phenotypic analysis of gene knockdown ex vivo and in vivo. Computational image analysis will complement this qualitative analysis and allows a classification of cellular morphologies or migration defects.