Prof. Assaf Zaritsky honored with a 2024 Allen Distinguished Investigator Award
This prestigious recognition, granted by The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, will fund a $1.5 million pioneering collaborative interdisciplinary project
Prof. Assaf Zaritsky, from the Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering, in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, has been honored with a 2024 Allen Distinguished Investigator Award in Organelle Communication. This prestigious recognition, granted by The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, will fund a $1.5 million pioneering collaborative interdisciplinary project exploring how cellular structures, called organelles, form dynamic networks during the process of stem cell differentiation into neurons .
Together with Prof. Sarah Cohen from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Dr. Shalin Mehta of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub in San Francisco, the team will develop innovative methodologies to visualize and analyze multiple organelles simultaneously within live cells. Their project, titled "Data-driven modeling of inter-organelle dynamic interactions throughout differentiation with multispectral and label-free live imaging," aims to elucidate the complex communication networks of organelles, which are pivotal in determining cell identity and function.
Traditional microscopy techniques often limit researchers to observing only a few organelles at a time and may adversely affect cell viability. To overcome these challenges Cohen will employ multispectral fluorescence microscopy enabling the simultaneous visualization and multiparameter analysis of up to eight organelles in live cells. Mehta will design correlative fluorescence and label-free live imaging and together with Zaritsky they will use machine learning to computationally map label free to fluorescence and to enable long-term continuous imaging of the differentiation process. Zaritsky will then computationally model the cell’s continuous differentiation state according to its organelle communication networks. This data-driven approach will help identify how stem cells commit to specific differentiation pathways and determine which organelle features are associated with cell fate decisions and the progression to terminal differentiation. After identifying the organelle interactions (“contact sites”) crucial for the differentiation, the team plans to disrupt these contact sites to determine if this can inhibit differentiation to test the possibility of a causal relationships between organelle contacts and differentiation.
The recognition of Zaritsky by The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group underscores the significance of interdisciplinary research in advancing our understanding of cellular processes. Specifically, exemplifying the power of combining optics, computational and experimental techniques to uncover the intricate mechanisms that govern cellular function and identity. “I am honored to join the next cohort of Allen Distinguished Investigators and excited toward starting working with my friends and collaborators Sarah and Shalin to decipher the links between the organelles’ dynamic interactions and cell fate.“ said Zaritsky.
Links:
The Allen Distinguished Investigators webpage
