How HPCCF Accelerates Cutting-Edge Research

Researcher Highlight: Jawdat Al-Bassam

Jawdat Al-Bassam, an Associate Professor at UCD, is a leading researcher studying the mechanisms of motility and dynamic polymerization of the microtubule cytoskeleton in eukaryotic cell division. The laboratory focuses on determining snapshots of molecular machines in different stages of a biological process to explain their mechanisms. 

 

Jawdat Al-Bassam portrait

My research aims to understand how conserved molecular machines regulate motility and the dynamic polymerization of tube-like intracellular polymers called Microtubules. Microtubules form the interior skeleton of human cells and their organization leads cells to form a wide variety of shapes like neurons in the brain or hair cells in the inner ear. The dynamic organization and polymerization of microtubules, regulated by conserved molecular machines, promotes mitotic cell division, for which aberrations cause many forms of cancerous growth. We utilize single-particle cryogenic electron microscopy (cryoEM) to visualize the organization and transitions of these molecular machines in different stages of their biological function. HPC core facility has allowed us to establish systems to sort through detailed snapshots of these assemblies and resolve their moving elements, providing multiple crisp views of how they move during biological activities.  The experience of the HPC technical staff in deploying, and testing both HPC hardware and software is crucial to enable our laboratory to analyze and sort millions of cryo-EM snapshots into discrete molecular states describing their biological function.