“Long-Distance Calcium Codes in the Brain”

Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, PhD
Senior Group Leader
Head of 4D Cellular Physiology
Janelia Research Campus
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The body’s organs are comprised of diverse cell types that together orchestrate the organ’s complex behaviors. The Lippincott-Schwartz Lab wants to understand how the different cells comprising an organ operate individually and interdependently to allow an organ to develop, remodel, heal and compute. In addressing this challenge, the lab focuses on the dynamic organization of subcellular organelles and their trafficking pathways in driving the metabolic and physical states of cells and their interrelationships.

On a small scale, the Lippincott-Schwartz Lab is interested in the interplay between membrane-bound organelles, membrane-less organelles, cytoskeletal structures and metabolism as it relates to the organization and function of organ-specific cell types and their interactions. On a larger scale, the lab is trying to decipher how complex cellular behaviors characteristic of different cell types arise, including cell crawling, surface polarization, cell-cell fusion, cytokinesis, viral budding and intercellular transfer.

The lab comprises an interdisciplinary, international team with expertise in cell biology, physics, chemistry, mathematical modeling, engineering and computer science. Its research relies heavily on microscopy, including cutting-edge, fluorescence-based technologies, to study questions at different spatial scales. The lab closely collaborates with other labs and project teams at Janelia.