Prof. Tito Calí
University of Padova
Department of Biomedical Sciences
Programm
“Lighting Up the Hidden Network: Split Fluorescent Tools to Unveil the Organelle Contactome and Beyond”
Inter-organelle contact sites are emerging as fundamental hubs for cellular organization, signaling, and metabolic coordination. However, their dynamic and heterogeneous nature has made it challenging to systematically map and functionally characterize these interactions across physiological and pathological states. I will present a new generation of split fluorescent protein–based sensors designed to visualize and quantify organelle contacts in living cells and in vivo with high specificity and spatiotemporal resolution. These tools enable the detection of both well-established and previously inaccessible contact sites, providing a scalable framework to define the cellular “contactome.”
I will show how these sensors can be applied to construct comprehensive maps of organelle interactions under normal conditions and how these maps are rewired in disease-relevant contexts. By integrating quantitative imaging with perturbation approaches, we begin to uncover the functional relevance of specific contact sites in cellular homeostasis and stress responses.
Finally, I will introduce newly developed probes targeting unknown or poorly characterized inter-organelle interfaces, expanding the detectable landscape of intracellular connectivity. In addition, I will describe engineered reporters capable of simultaneously sensing molecules exchanged and physical proximity at contact sites, offering a first glimpse into the biochemical “language” through which organelles communicate. Together, these approaches provide powerful tools to illuminate the hidden network of organelle interactions and to dissect its role in health and disease.
Host: Sonja SUCIC
Contact for questions: Helmut KUBISTA