02/08/2021
By Matthew Gage

The Kennedy College of Science, Department of Chemistry, invites you to attend a proposal defense by Hatim Abulola entitled “The Behavior of Calcium in Excitable and Non-Excitable Cells.” The defense will be held on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 at 3 p.m. on Zoom. Please contact Matthew Gage for meeting information if you are interested in attending. The committee will be composed of Matthew Gage (committee chair), Juan Manuel Aretes Vivancos, Nicolai Konow, and Taras Lyubchenko. A brief abstract is provided below.

All interested students and faculty members are invited to attend.

Abstract: Calcium (Ca2+) signaling is an important aspect that determines cellular functions in all living organisms. Intracellular Ca2+ migrates in the intracellular space in the form of waves. These waves show various spatiotemporal characteristics, such as Ca2+ wave direction, Ca2+ wave velocity, and Ca2+ concentration. Ca2+ activity in stimulated skeletal muscle fibers and B lymphocytes will be studied using confocal fluorescent microscopy and cell-permeable calcium dyes. The study hypothesis is that Ca2+ waves in stimulated Skeletal muscle fibers and B Lymphocytes initially propagate from localized Ca2+ clusters in different velocities affected by intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i), leading to a gradual cellular activation. Comparing the differences and similarities of the Ca2+ spatiotemporal dynamics in excitable and non-excitable cells, which contain different Ca2+ channels, will lead to a greater understanding of cellular Ca2+ signaling. Additionally, addressing the similarities and differences of Ca2+ dynamics in excitable and non-excitable cells can lead to advances in regulating and restoring altered Ca2+ transport in diseased cells.