Kansas City, Mo. (April 20, 2007) – Rong Li, Ph.D., Investigator, and colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Medical School, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have used quantitative imaging and mathematical analysis to understand how cells maintain a polarized state that is dynamic, precise, and stable.

     The paper, “Endocytosis Optimizes the Dynamic Localization of Membrane Proteins that Regulate Cortical Polarity,” was published in the April 20 issue of Cell.

     The analysis led to a surprising finding that endocytosis — a process by which plasma membrane proteins are internalized for recycling — actually plays an important role in maintaining a polarized domain with optimal precision.

     “Cell polarization is a critical step in many developmental processes, including the establishment of embryonic axes, development of epithelial tissues, neuron differentiation and migration, and immune responses,” said Dr. Li. “Loss of polarity in differentiated cells is often associated with disease development. For example, loss of cell polarity in epithelial tissues is one of the first morphological changes associated with tumor development.”

     “The coupling of experimental work with mathematical/computational analyses to study the fundamental principles and molecular networks that control cell polarity is very exciting,” said William B. Neaves, Ph.D., President and CEO. “The work in Rong Li’s lab represents an important new dimension of cell biology research in the post-genome era.”

     Co- first authors on the paper are Eugenio Marco, Ph.D., previously a member of the Altschuler and Wu group and currently at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Roland Wedlich-Soldner, Ph.D., previously a postdoctoral fellow in the Li lab and currently at Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. Corresponding authors for the paper are Steven Altschuler, Ph.D., and Lani Wu, Ph.D., both of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who supervised the mathematical analysis. Dr. Li is a co-principal investigator on the project who provided guidance on the cell biological aspects of the work.

About the Stowers Institute
     Housed in a 600,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility on a 10-acre campus in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research conducts basic research on fundamental processes of cellular life. Through its commitment to collaborative research and the use of cutting-edge technology, the Institute seeks more effective means of preventing and curing disease. The Institute was founded by Jim and Virginia Stowers, two cancer survivors who have created combined endowments of $2 billion in support of basic research of the highest quality.