Cellular behavior is regulated by diverse signaling mechanisms that often depend on molecular dynamics precisely organized in space and time. The transient positioning and kinetics of molecular events is lost in bulk biochemical analysis and in single cell proteomics. Understanding such factors requires visualization and quantitative analysis of molecular events in living cells and tissues, now made possible by combining molecular probe design, high-resolution live cell microscopy and computational image analysis. However, combining these diverse technology into a working whole for the quantitative analysis of live cell signaling networks remains challenging. The proposed Center for Cell Signaling Analysis aims to democratize advanced methods that put these tools in the hands of scientists who have not devoted their careers to imaging.

We propose to develop and disseminate a user-friendly and integrated pipeline that combines

1) biosensors, optogenetics and chemogenetics

2) modular, high-speed, and high-resolution light-sheet microscopes

3) image analysis and computational modeling to derive signaling network architecture