The Influence of Mechanical Forces in Neuro-degenerative Diseases

We will use live-cell and super-resolution microscopy combined with automated image processing to determine the impact of large numbers of FUS variants on the sub-cellular distribution, nuclear re-localisation and aggregate formation at a single cell and molecule level under the impact of shock and external forces. The changed interaction between nuclear pore complex and FUS variants will be evaluated, therefore we aim to use 2 color super-resolution microscopy for structural changes and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to study temporal changes in FUS transport across the nuclear membrane. Bioinformatic analysis will integrate findings across FUS variants and experiments.