Awarded in 2012
Home Department: Chemistry
Faculty Advisors: W. E. Moerner (Chemistry) and Matthew Scott (Developmental Biology)

Research Title: Tracking individual proteins in live cells to reveal molecular details of signaling pathways

Research Description: Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling plays an important role in human development, particularly in determining the fate of stem cells and regulating cell division in some tissues. Defects in the signaling pathway can lead to serious birth defects and cancer. Despite its importance, the mechanism is not well understood. In this project, Lucien is using single-molecule imaging to characterize the motion and interactions of key proteins in the signaling pathway on the surface of live cells. This work will contribute to the understanding of how the SHH signal is received, transduced, and interpreted.

WHERE IS HE NOW?

Lucien is an assistant professor of engineering physics at Polytechnique Montreal.