News – White Lab

Introducing: New White Lab Graduate Student and Summer Undergrads

This summer has been very busy! Now that classes are over, our new graduate student, Smita Chatterjee, has been ramping up on her project. Smita officially joined the group in January and is investigating the molecular mechanisms by which pH dynamics drive dynamic biomolecular condensate formation in normal epithelial cells. We are also hosting four undergraduate students this summer. Two new students: Notre Dame student Sam Holmen and Saint Mary’s student Peculiar Emmanuel-King and two returning students: Abraham Guadiano and Arezo Karimi. Learn more about these awesome White Lab trainees by clicking “more info” on their bio entries here: https://sites.nd.edu/whitelab/lab-members/

New Graduate Students!

Warm welcome to our new Graduate students: Carlos Arias Matus & Ijeoma Asilebo & Châu Nguyen! Carlos is an IBMS graduate student and is studying how pHi drives 2D and 3D cell phenotype, IJ is an IBMS graduate student and is developing and applying new tools to manipulate single-cell pH. Châu is a Biochemistry Graduate student and joined us in December to study molecular mechanisms of pH-dependent cell division with a focus on pH-dependent protein degradation! Learn more about these awesome White Lab trainees by clicking “more info” on their bio entries here: https://sites.nd.edu/whitelab/lab-members/

Our work on spatiotemporal pHi dynamics during cell division is published in JCS!

Congrats to Julia Spear on her recent paper published in Journal of Cell Science! In the paper (Spear and White, 2023), Julia used timelapse confocal microscopy to measure intracellular pH in single dividing cells. She found that pHi oscillates during cell cycle progression and pHi dynamics correlate with cell cycle transitions. Julia next asked whether these pHi changes are sufficient to regulate cell cycle. She manipulated pHi and found that high pHi promotes S/G2 and G2/M transitions. She also found that G1 duration is sensitive to pHi with low pHi shortening G1 and high pHi elongating G1. These results indicate that finely titrated pHi regulation might be necessary for normal cell cycle progression and suggests a role for the increased pHi of cancer in driving cell cycle dysregulation.

Julia’s paper was highlighed in the JCS issue and she was selected for a “First Person” author feature!

Congrats to Caitlin and Leah on receiving Graduate Fellowships!

Leah Lund (Biochemistry Program) was recently awarded an Interdisciplinary Interface Training Project (IITP) graduate research fellowship from the Walther Cancer Foundation. Leah’s project will explore how molecular cues associated with mechanical stiffening of the tumor microenvironment contribute to or reinforce pH dysregulation in cancer. This project is performed in close collaboration with Donny Hanjaya Putra’s Lab in the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department at Notre Dame.

Caitlin Donahue (Biochemistry Program) was recently awarded a graduate research fellowship from the Berthaiume Institute of Precision Health (BIPH) at Notre Dame. Caitlin’s project will be applying optogenetic tools to unravel roles for pHi in initiating and sustaining cancer cell behaviors.