Pietro Cicuta | University of Cambridge (original) (raw)

Papers by Pietro Cicuta

International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance

Molecular Cell, Jul 1, 2022

arXiv (Cornell University), Dec 10, 2021

Signalling is of particular importance in immune cells, and upstream in the signalling pathway,, ... more Signalling is of particular importance in immune cells, and upstream in the signalling pathway,, many membrane receptors are functional only as complexes, co-locating with particular lipid species. Work over the last 15 years has shown that plasma membrane lipid composition is close to a critical point of phase separation, with evidence that cells adapt their composition in ways that alter the proximity to this thermodynamic point. Macrophage cells are a key component of the innate immune system, responsive to infections, regulating the local state of inflammation. We investigate changes in the plasma membrane's proximity to the critical point, as a response to stimulation by various pro- and anti-inflammatory agents. Pro-inflammatory (IFN-<i>γ</i>, Kdo-LipidA, LPS) perturbations induce an increase in the transition temperature of the GMPVs; anti-inflammatory IL4 has the opposite effect. These changes recapitulate complex plasma membrane composition changes, and are consistent with lipid criticality playing a master regulatory role: being closer to critical conditions increases membrane protein activity.

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Oct 25, 2017

Biophysical Journal, Jul 1, 2017

Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Jan 19, 2023

Hands-On Research in Complex Systems Schools provide an example of how graduate students and youn... more Hands-On Research in Complex Systems Schools provide an example of how graduate students and young faculty working in resource-constrained environments can apply key mindsets and methods of tabletop experiments to problems at the frontiers of science. Each day during the Schools’ two-week program, participants work in small groups with experienced tabletop scientists in interactive laboratories on topics drawn from diverse disciplines in science and technology. Using modern low-cost tools, participants run experiments and perform associated data analysis together with mathematical and computational modeling. Participants also engage in other scientific professional activities; in particular, they learn best practices for communicating their results visually, orally, and in writing. In this way, the Hands-On Schools foster the development of scientific leaders in low- and middle-income countries. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 55 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

arXiv (Cornell University), Jun 2, 2016

This archive contains the dataset for the article "Motile cilia hydrodynamics: Entrainment v... more This archive contains the dataset for the article "Motile cilia hydrodynamics: Entrainment versus synchronisation when coupling through flow". We gathered videos of cilia dynamics from different sources. For each animal/microorganism we upload the videos in different formats depending on the source: - .tiffs usually in a directory, it is composed by a series of images - .movie a format that we use in our lab and that it is combatible with our software in Matlab to tack cilium waveform - .avi For each video we also have the results from the tracking with our software. The resuts from a single video are all in a Matlab variable that has the same name but with the extension .clclk_force for example for the video "filename", the results are in "filename.clclk_force".<br> In Matlab these can be loaded as force = load('filename.clclk_force','-mat');<br> For all the videos these can be directly be found in the directory cilium waveforms force files.

Data and code from Panlilio et al. “Threshold accumulation of a constitutive protein explains E. ... more Data and code from Panlilio et al. “Threshold accumulation of a constitutive protein explains E. coli cell division behavior in nutrient upshifts.

MATLAB code to run multiDDM analysis. See the associated README file for further information.

Malaria is associated with significant microcirculation disorders, especially when the infection ... more Malaria is associated with significant microcirculation disorders, especially when the infection reaches its severe stage. This can lead to a range of fatal conditions, from cerebral malaria to multiple organ failure, of not fully understood pathogenesis. It has recently been proposed that a breakdown of the glycocalyx, the carbohydrate-rich layer lining the vascular endothelium, plays a key role in severe malaria (SM), but direct evidence supporting this hypothesis is still lacking. Here, the interactions between <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> infected red blood cells (<i>Pf</i>RBCs) and endothelial glycocalyx are investigated by developing an <i>in vitro</i>, physiologically relevant model of human microcirculation based on microfluidics. Impairment of the glycocalyx is obtained by enzymatic removal of sialic acids residues, which, due to their terminal location and net negative charge, are implicated in the initial interactions with contacting cells. We show a more than twofold increase of <i>Pf</i>RBCs adhesion to endothelial cells upon enzymatic treatment, relative to untreated endothelial cells. As a control, no effect of enzymatic treatment on healthy red blood cells adhesion is found. The increased adhesion of <i>Pf</i>RBCs is also associated with cell flipping and reduced velocity as compared to the untreated endothelium. Altogether, these results provide a compelling evidence of the increased cytoadherence of <i>Pf</i>RBCs to glycocalyx-impaired vascular endothelium, thus supporting the advocated role of glycocalyx disruption in the pathogenesis of this disease.

MATLAB toolbox for multiscale-DDM analysis of ALI Cultures of Human Airway Cell

We present experimental data on the nematic alignment of <i>Escherichia coli</i> bact... more We present experimental data on the nematic alignment of <i>Escherichia coli</i> bacteria confined in a slit, with an emphasis on the effect of growth rate and corresponding changes in cell aspect ratio. Global alignment with the channel walls arises from the combination of local nematic ordering of nearby cells, induced by cell division and the elongated shape of the cells, and the preferential orientation of cells proximate to the side walls of the slit. Decreasing the growth rate leads to a decrease in alignment with the walls, which is attributed primarily to effects of changing cell aspect ratio rather than changes in the variance in cell area. Decreasing confinement also reduces the degree of alignment by a similar amount as a decrease in the growth rate, but the distribution of the degree of alignment differs. The onset of alignment with the channel walls is coincident with the slits reaching their steady-state occupancy and connected to the re-orientation of locally aligned regions with respect to the walls during density fluctuations.

Bulletin of the American Physical Society, Mar 17, 2016

European Physical Journal E, Feb 1, 2005

International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance

Molecular Cell, Jul 1, 2022

arXiv (Cornell University), Dec 10, 2021

Signalling is of particular importance in immune cells, and upstream in the signalling pathway,, ... more Signalling is of particular importance in immune cells, and upstream in the signalling pathway,, many membrane receptors are functional only as complexes, co-locating with particular lipid species. Work over the last 15 years has shown that plasma membrane lipid composition is close to a critical point of phase separation, with evidence that cells adapt their composition in ways that alter the proximity to this thermodynamic point. Macrophage cells are a key component of the innate immune system, responsive to infections, regulating the local state of inflammation. We investigate changes in the plasma membrane's proximity to the critical point, as a response to stimulation by various pro- and anti-inflammatory agents. Pro-inflammatory (IFN-<i>γ</i>, Kdo-LipidA, LPS) perturbations induce an increase in the transition temperature of the GMPVs; anti-inflammatory IL4 has the opposite effect. These changes recapitulate complex plasma membrane composition changes, and are consistent with lipid criticality playing a master regulatory role: being closer to critical conditions increases membrane protein activity.

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Oct 25, 2017

Biophysical Journal, Jul 1, 2017

Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Jan 19, 2023

Hands-On Research in Complex Systems Schools provide an example of how graduate students and youn... more Hands-On Research in Complex Systems Schools provide an example of how graduate students and young faculty working in resource-constrained environments can apply key mindsets and methods of tabletop experiments to problems at the frontiers of science. Each day during the Schools’ two-week program, participants work in small groups with experienced tabletop scientists in interactive laboratories on topics drawn from diverse disciplines in science and technology. Using modern low-cost tools, participants run experiments and perform associated data analysis together with mathematical and computational modeling. Participants also engage in other scientific professional activities; in particular, they learn best practices for communicating their results visually, orally, and in writing. In this way, the Hands-On Schools foster the development of scientific leaders in low- and middle-income countries. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 55 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

arXiv (Cornell University), Jun 2, 2016

This archive contains the dataset for the article "Motile cilia hydrodynamics: Entrainment v... more This archive contains the dataset for the article "Motile cilia hydrodynamics: Entrainment versus synchronisation when coupling through flow". We gathered videos of cilia dynamics from different sources. For each animal/microorganism we upload the videos in different formats depending on the source: - .tiffs usually in a directory, it is composed by a series of images - .movie a format that we use in our lab and that it is combatible with our software in Matlab to tack cilium waveform - .avi For each video we also have the results from the tracking with our software. The resuts from a single video are all in a Matlab variable that has the same name but with the extension .clclk_force for example for the video "filename", the results are in "filename.clclk_force".<br> In Matlab these can be loaded as force = load('filename.clclk_force','-mat');<br> For all the videos these can be directly be found in the directory cilium waveforms force files.

Data and code from Panlilio et al. “Threshold accumulation of a constitutive protein explains E. ... more Data and code from Panlilio et al. “Threshold accumulation of a constitutive protein explains E. coli cell division behavior in nutrient upshifts.

MATLAB code to run multiDDM analysis. See the associated README file for further information.

Malaria is associated with significant microcirculation disorders, especially when the infection ... more Malaria is associated with significant microcirculation disorders, especially when the infection reaches its severe stage. This can lead to a range of fatal conditions, from cerebral malaria to multiple organ failure, of not fully understood pathogenesis. It has recently been proposed that a breakdown of the glycocalyx, the carbohydrate-rich layer lining the vascular endothelium, plays a key role in severe malaria (SM), but direct evidence supporting this hypothesis is still lacking. Here, the interactions between <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> infected red blood cells (<i>Pf</i>RBCs) and endothelial glycocalyx are investigated by developing an <i>in vitro</i>, physiologically relevant model of human microcirculation based on microfluidics. Impairment of the glycocalyx is obtained by enzymatic removal of sialic acids residues, which, due to their terminal location and net negative charge, are implicated in the initial interactions with contacting cells. We show a more than twofold increase of <i>Pf</i>RBCs adhesion to endothelial cells upon enzymatic treatment, relative to untreated endothelial cells. As a control, no effect of enzymatic treatment on healthy red blood cells adhesion is found. The increased adhesion of <i>Pf</i>RBCs is also associated with cell flipping and reduced velocity as compared to the untreated endothelium. Altogether, these results provide a compelling evidence of the increased cytoadherence of <i>Pf</i>RBCs to glycocalyx-impaired vascular endothelium, thus supporting the advocated role of glycocalyx disruption in the pathogenesis of this disease.

MATLAB toolbox for multiscale-DDM analysis of ALI Cultures of Human Airway Cell

We present experimental data on the nematic alignment of <i>Escherichia coli</i> bact... more We present experimental data on the nematic alignment of <i>Escherichia coli</i> bacteria confined in a slit, with an emphasis on the effect of growth rate and corresponding changes in cell aspect ratio. Global alignment with the channel walls arises from the combination of local nematic ordering of nearby cells, induced by cell division and the elongated shape of the cells, and the preferential orientation of cells proximate to the side walls of the slit. Decreasing the growth rate leads to a decrease in alignment with the walls, which is attributed primarily to effects of changing cell aspect ratio rather than changes in the variance in cell area. Decreasing confinement also reduces the degree of alignment by a similar amount as a decrease in the growth rate, but the distribution of the degree of alignment differs. The onset of alignment with the channel walls is coincident with the slits reaching their steady-state occupancy and connected to the re-orientation of locally aligned regions with respect to the walls during density fluctuations.

Bulletin of the American Physical Society, Mar 17, 2016

European Physical Journal E, Feb 1, 2005