Leda Lacaria
Current position
DOC2AMU PhD student, Adhesion and Inflammation Lab (LAI), U1006 Inserm & Aix-Marseille Université
Email: ledalacaria@hotmail.it or leda.lacaria@inserm.fr
Other links:
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leda-lacaria-711bb913b/
twitter: https://twitter.com/leda_lcr
DOC2AMU: https://doc2amu.univ-amu.fr/en
CV: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/4s5WUr398fJmGI
Curriculum
Education
2017 – MS in Physics of Matter, Università della Calabria, Italy
Thesis: “Study of myofibroblasts and B-cell lymphomas by atomic force and confocal microscopy” supervisor: Dott.ssa Maria Penelope De Santo (University of Calabria) and Prof. Vincent Moy (University of Miami)
4.06.2016 - 4.11.2016 – Internships in Vincent Moy's Lab, University of Miami, USA
2014 – BS in Physics, Università della Calabria, Italy
Thesis: “Study of amyloid fibrils morphology using atomic force microscopy techniques” supervisor: Dott.ssa Maria Penelope De Santo
PhD project – Cell mechanics regulation by cytoskeleton dynamics:
Combined atomic force and optical microscopy
The main goal of this project is to correlate the mechanical response of living cells with the structure of the cytoskeleton of tumor and migrating cells by combining advance atomic force and optical microscopy.
Cells are able to produce and sense forces, which are known as mechanical signals and are involved in many relevant cellular processes and functions. Mechanical signals are generated by the cytoskeleton, that is a complex network of protein filaments, forming the structural scaffold of the cell.
While the mechanical properties of individual filaments remain mostly unchanged, its organization, assembly, crosslinking and applied stress allow the cell to modulate its mechanical response.
Two important examples in which cell mechanics and cytoskeleton organization is essential are cell malignancy and cell migration, but the interplay between cytoskeleton’s dynamic structure and mechanics is poorly understood, mainly due to the lack of available tools combining mechanics and structural information.
Accordingly, the two specific aims of this project are:
1. To determine the dynamic structure of the cortical cytoskeleton of benign and malignant tumor cells and its relation with cells’ viscoelasticity, combining HS-AFM and optical Super Resolution microscopy (STORM, STED, PALM).
2. To implement a new adaptive microscope that combines AFM and confocal fluorescence imaging to simultaneously determine the structure and mechanics of migrating cells.
Publications
1. Xiaoyu Jiang, Xiaoqing Lu, Yu Zhang, Leda Lacaria, Brett J. Schuchardt, David C. Mikles, Marco Magistri, Idoia Garcia-Ramirez, Isidro Sanchez-Garcia, Amjad Farooq, Ramiro E Verdun, Vincent T. Moy, Izidore S. Lossos. “Regulation of B-cell receptor signaling by direct interaction between HGAL and Grb2 proteins”; Blood Advances 2019, 3:2286-2297,
doi: https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2018016162
2. Cheng Zhang, Romain Grossier, Leda Lacaria, Felix Rico, Nadine Candoni, Stéphane Veesler. “A microfluidic method generating monodispersed microparticles with controllable sizes and mechanical properties”; Chemical Engineering Science 2020, 211: 115322,
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2019.115322
3. Leda Lacaria, Janina R. Lange, Wolfgang H. Goldmann, Felix Rico, Jose Luis Alonso. “avβ3 integrin expression increases elasticity in human melanoma cells”; Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 2020,
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.02.156