Thomas Litschel

Research

Current Research

Past Research

To explore minimal cell division machinery, I encapsulated actin and myosin inside giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). By tuning a few biochemical parameters, the networks self-organized into contractile rings that squeezed and deformed the vesicles, producing furrow-like constrictions. This system provides a stripped-down model for studying how cytoskeletal forces reshape membranes during cell division.adas

Read more:

  • Litschel T, Kelley CF, Holz D, Adeli Koudehi M, Vogel S, Burbaum L, Mizuno N, Vavylonis D, Schwille P
    “Reconstitution of contractile actomyosin rings in vesicles” (Research Paper)
    Nature Communications, 2021, 12:2254 [Link]
  • Bashirzadeh Y, Redford SA, Lorpaiboon C, Groaz A, Litschel T, Schwille P, Hocky GM, Dinner A, Liu AP
    “Actin crosslinker competition and sorting drive emergent GUV size-dependent actin network architecture”
    Communications Biology, 2021, 4:1136 [Link]
  • Bashirzadeh Y, Wubshet N, Litschel T, Schwille P, Liu AP
    „Rapid encapsulation of reconstituted cytoskeleton inside giant unilamellar vesicles” (Method Paper)
    Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2021, 177: e63332 [Link]
  • Litschel T#, Schwille P# (#corresponding author)
    “Protein reconstitution inside giant unilamellar vesicles” (Review)
    Annual Review of Biophysics, 2021, 50:525-548[Link]