Speakers: Raj Logan, PhD

Raj Logan, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Affiliate, Biomedical Engineering
Wichita State University

 

Raj is a developmental systems biologist in the Department of Biological Sciences at Wichita State University. His lab studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms of tubular organ formation (Tubulogenesis) using the fruit fly (Drosophila) embryo as the model system. He attended the Madras Medical College for undergraduate training (Physical Therapy) and the University of Kansas for graduate training (Rehabilitation Science, Electrical Engineering). He conducted postdoctoral research (Cell and Developmental Biology) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. For more information about his research, teaching, and science outreach efforts, visit www.rajlogan.com.

Cell and Tissue Live Imaging: Challenges and Opportunities

Advances in live time-lapse imaging methods to monitor cell and tissue dynamics have produced a wealth of data. I would like to highlight a few hallmark findings in developmental biology that have offered spectacular views into the world of embryos. How does the embryo emerge from the coordinate developmental mechanisms that commence with the cellular dynamics in the mother? And what role does extracellular matrix dynamics play in embryogenesis? My presentation will focus on recent data from my own community of scientists, the Drosophila Biologists, whose work has spotlighted the exquisite cell and tissue-scale mechanisms at play in the emergence of the embryo. Increasingly, the opportunities resulting from advances in live imaging technologies that allow for testing novel hypotheses in developmental biology are paralleled by the accompanying challenges presented by the sheer volume of collected data and the methods available for analysis, which will be discussed by proposing potential path(s) forward.