GW Gant Luxton

@gwgl.bsky.social

I’m Gant. My lab studies how the structure of cells affects disease progression. Allen Distinguished Investigator in Molecular and Celular Biology at @UCDavis. https://luxton.faculty.ucdavis.edu

Forget the calm, spacious cells from your biology textbook. Inside a living cell, it’s less “tidy factory” and more “midnight nightclub and the cytoplasm of worm cells is thick as strawberry jam. Congrats, @gwgl.bsky.social! www.quantamagazine.org/the-biophysi...

The Biophysical World Inside a Jam-Packed Cell | Quanta Magazine

Innovations in imaging and genetic engineering are coming together to probe the biophysics of cytoplasm inside living animals.

quantamagazine.org

🧬BREAKING!🪱Plot twist: Cells aren't meditation pools, they're overcrowded concerts with VIP ropes everywhere! Our study reveals worm cells are insanely crowded AND compartmentalized. Ribosomes = packing peanuts, ANC-1 = the bouncer! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Giant KASH proteins and ribosomes establish distinct cytoplasmic biophysical properties in vivo

Living tissues maintain unique intracellular biophysical properties under the control of cytoplasmic constraints and crowding.

science.org

🚨Our fabulous graduate student Selin's paper on how the KASH protein UNC-83 regulates the activity of kinesin-1 to control developmental stage-specific nuclear migration is out! Another great collaboration between the Starr-Luxton and MOM labs. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The KASH protein UNC-83 differentially regulates kinesin-1 activity to control developmental stage-specific nuclear migration

Nuclear migration plays a fundamental role in development, requiring precise spatiotemporal control of bidirectional movement through dynein and kines…

sciencedirect.com