Mechanobiology of Vimentin Intermediate Filaments in 3D Collective Cell Migration

SSTATEMENT OF WORK Project Title: Mechanobiology of Vimentin Intermediate Filaments in 3D Collective Cell Migration Start/End Dates: 09/1/2020 – 08/31/2025 Co-I: Robert D. Goldman, Ph.D., Northwestern University Project Description: The group at Northwestern University, under the supervision of Dr. Robert D. Goldman, will provide stably transfected cell lines with controlled and characterized vimentin expression to Dr. Ming Guo’s group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dr. Ian Y. Wong’s group at Brown University to perform the proposed experiments: First, Co-I: Goldman will provide cell lines (e.g. MCF7, MCF10A, MDA-MB-231, mouse embryonic fibroblasts) with genetically manipulated vimentin expression (overexpression, scramble, or knockdown), as previously demonstrated (Mendez et al. FASEB J. 4(6): 1838-1851, 2010). Second, Co-I: Goldman will provide cell lines (e.g. MCF7) expressing GFP-vimentin, as previously demonstrated (Yoon et al. J. Cell Biol. 143(1): 147-157, 1998). Third, Co-I: Goldman will assist in authentication and quality assurance of vimentin expression in these lines once delivered to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University, to verify that experiments exhibit consistent results across all three institutions through the verification of cell morphology and biomarker expression, etc. Finally, Co-I: Goldman will contribute his expertise on experimental design, troubleshooting, data interpretation, etc. Co-I: Goldman and his group members will be co-authors on any publications resulting from the proposed work and will assist in manuscript preparation.