Abstract: Proper positioning of organelles by cytoskeleton-based motor proteins underlies cellular events such as signaling, polarization, and growth. For example, the selective transport of different cargoes into axons and dendrites underlies the polarized organization of the neuron, whereas the regulated intra-dendritic transport of receptor-carrying endosomes is important for synaptic maintenance and modulation. To explore how different motor proteins contribute to neuronal transport and to study the site-specific roles of different organelles, we have established optical control of intracellular transport by using light-sensitive heterodimerization to recruit specific cytoskeletal motor proteins (kinesin, dynein or myosin) to selected cargoes. In addition, to unravel how the specialized organization of the neuronal cytoskeleton guides different motor proteins to either axons or dendrites, we have developed novel approaches for optical nanoscopy. One of these, called motor-PAINT, uses nanometric tracking of motor proteins to super-resolve cytoskeletal fibers and determine their polarity. This has revealed a key architectural principle of the neuronal microtubule cytoskeleton that explains how different motor proteins can selectively transport cargoes to either axons or dendrites.
Lukas Kapitein studied Physics at the VU University in Amsterdam, where he also received his PhD in Biophysics in 2007. His postdoctoral training in Neurobiology was at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. In 2011, he started his group at Utrecht University. His lab develops innovative high-resolution microscopy techniques and intracellular transport assays aimed at understanding the mechanisms by which cells establish and maintain their precise shape and intracellular organization. This is important, because form and function are closely connected and cellular disorganization often leads to cellular dysfunction and disease. In 2013, he received an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council and a VIDI fellowship from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.

Biography: Lukas Kapitein studied Physics and Astronomy at the VU University in Amsterdam, where he also received his PhD in Biophysics in 2007. His postdoctoral training in Neurobiology was at the Erasmus Medical Center, funded by an NWO Vernieuwingsimpuls ALW-VENI grant and an Erasmus MC Fellowship. As of 2011, he works as an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University. In 2013, he received an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council and a VIDI fellowship from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.