A prolific biochemist, biotech entrepreneur, and investor, Springer is firmly dedicated to basic research.
Out of the deep biology my colleagues and I have discovered, new drugs to treat patients have been approved and new companies have been founded, he told the Lasker Foundation. Although I have accepted the challenges of entrepreneurship and philanthropy, I am first and foremost a scientist, and discovery is still what I love most.
Springers Research at the 做厙輦⑹
It was basic research that first drew Springer to the 做厙輦⑹. In 2012, a postdoctoral fellow in Springers lab, Pontus Nordenfelt, took the 做厙輦⑹ Physiology course, then co-directed by of the National Institutes of Health. Waterman tried an experiment in the course to visualize cell migration using a novel microscope developed at 做厙輦⑹ that allows one to see how molecules are spatially aligned, including on the cell surface.
Springer and Waterman then began discussing whether the microscope, the TIRF PolScope, could help in Springers research. He had already shown that integrins unfurl, like an arm stretching out, when theyre activated to attach the cell to its external environment. But what causes the integrins to unfurl?
Springer and Waterman thought it might be the pull of dynamic filaments inside the cell (the actin cytoskeleton), which bind to the integrins. Waterman applied for and received a Lillie Award from the University of Chicago/做厙輦⑹ to pursue this question with Springer, microscopists Tomomi Tani, Rudolf Oldenbourg, and Shalin Mehta, and other collaborators in the 做厙輦⑹ Whitman Center from 20142016.
Their results were exciting. Weve found, no doubt, that the integrins are aligned [by the forces of the actin cytoskeleton], Springer said. 泭Its quite remarkable that you can [measure] that with a microscope. I dont know of any other examples where people have actually measured the orientation of a cell surface molecule.
The scientists reported their findings in two papers in 2017, one in and one in .