Philip Bleicher

National Institutes of Health | NIH · National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

Actin bundles constitute important cytoskeleton structures and enable a scaffold for force transmission inside cells. Actin bundles are formed by proteins, with multiple F-actin binding domains crosslinking actin filaments to each other. VASP has mostly been reported as an actin elongator, but it has been shown to be a bundling protein as well and...

The cellular cortex is a dynamic and contractile actomyosin network modulated by actin-binding proteins. We reconstituted a minimal cortex adhered to a model cell membrane mimicking two processes mediated by the motor protein myosin: contractility and high turnover of actin monomers. Myosin reorganized these networks by extensile intra‑bundle contr...

The dynamics of actin networks is modulated by a machinery consisting of actin binding proteins that control the turnover of filaments in space and time. To study this complex orchestration, in vitro reconstitution approaches strive to project actin dynamics in ideal, minimal systems. To this extent we reconstitute a self-supplying, dense network o...

Arp2/3 complex-mediated actin assembly at cell membranes drives the formation of protrusions or endocytic vesicles. To identify the mechanism by which different membrane deformations can be achieved, we reconstitute the basic membrane deformation modes of inward and outward bending in a confined geometry by encapsulating a minimal set of cytoskelet...

The strawberry fruit Fra a 1-proteins are homologues of the major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1 and have essential biological functions in pigment formation during fruit ripening. Patients affected by allergy against birch pollen tolerated fruits of a naturally occurring white-fruited F. × ananassa genotype, which showed reduced levels of Fra a 1 p...