Edward M. Bonder

Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers
Chair and Graduate Program Director, Federated Activities

Contact Info

Office: 309 Boyden Hall
Office Phone: (973) 353-1047
Lab: 309 Boyden Hall
Lab Phone:
E-mail: ebonder@andromeda.rutgers.edu

Personal/Lab Web Sites

http://

Educational Background

Research Interests

Motility is a basic characteristic of all biological systems. Our laboratory is interested in how the structure, function and dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton serves to modulate cellular activities associated with morphogenesis, cell-cell contact formation, and organelle motility.

The structural events of fertilization exhibited by the eggs and sperm of marine gametes are an excellent model for the study of the cellular dynamics of the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton. Presently, we are focused on the myosin family of motor proteins that have been linked to a myriad of cellular activities including lamellar activity, endocytosis, organelle motility, etc. In preliminary studies, we have identified a number of myosins in unfertilized eggs and we are now beginning to probe their developmental expression during early embryogenesis.

An essential component of tissue and organelle development is the formation of appropriate cell-cell (adherens junctions) contacts. While the establishment of cell-cell contacts is intimately linked to the underlying cytoskeleton, the functional role of the actin cytoskeleton in organizing and driving contact formation remains to be determined. To address this issue, we have been examining the structural and functional dyanmics of the actin cytoskeleton during formation of adherens junctions by cultured transformed and nontransformed epithelial cells.

To investigate intracellular organelle motility, isolated sea urchin coelomocytes are being used to examine stimulus-response coupled induction of mitochondrial motility along actin filaments and microtubules. These studies, in addition to identifying a number of myosins in coelomocytes, led to the characterization of an intricate association between mitochondrial velocity and directionality along microtubules and the structural integrity of actin filaments.

Selected Publications

• Rodriguez, A.J., D.R. Hamill, D.P. Romancino, S.A. Seipel, M. DiCarlo, K.A. Suprenant, and E.M. Bonder. 2005. Sea urchin seawi – a member of the piwi/argonaute family – is associated with MT-RNP complexes, binds ribosomes, and is developmentally regulated during embryogenesis. In Review
• Vasiliev, J.M., T. Omelchenko, I.M. Gelfand, H.H. Feder, and E.M. Bonder. 2004. Rho overexpression leads to mitosis-associated detachment of cells from epithelial sheets: a link to the mechanizm of canser dissemination. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 101:12526-12530.
• Cheng, M.-F., J.-P. Peng, G. Gang, and E.M. Bonder. 2004. Functional restoration of acoustic units and adult-generated neurons after hypothalamic lesion. J. Neurobiol. In press.
• Omelchanko, T., J.M. Vasiliev, I.M. Gelfand, H.H. Feder, and E.M. Bonder. 2003. Rho-dependent formation of epithelial “leader” cells during wound healing. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 100:10788-10793.
• Omelchanko, T., J.M. Vasiliev, I.M. Gelfand, H.H. Feder, and E.M. Bonder. 2002. Mechanisms of polarization of the shape of fibroblasts and epitheliocytes: separation of the roles of microtubules and Rho-dependent actin-myosin contractility. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 99:10452-10457.
• Omelchenko, T., E. Fetisova, O. Ivanova, E.M. Bonder, H. Feder, J.M. Vasiliev, and I.M. Gelfand. 2001. Contact interactions between epitheliocytes and fibroblasts: formation of heterotypic cadherin-containing adhesion sites is accompanied by local cytoskeletal reorganization. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 98:8632-8637.
• Sirotkin, V., S. Seipel, M. Krendel, and E.M. Bonder. 2000. Characterization of sea urchin unconventional myosins and analysis of their patterns of expression during early embryogenesis. Mol. Rep. Develop. 57:111-126.
• Krendel, M.F., N.A. Gloushankova, N.O. Alieva, E.M. Bonder, H.H. Feder, J.M. Vasiliev, and I.M. Gelfand. 1999. Myosin-dependent contractile activity of the actin cytoskeleton modulates the spatial organization of cell-cell contacts in cultured epithelial cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 96:9666-9670.
• Krendel, M. and E.M. Bonder. 1999. Dynamics of actin filaments during contact formation in live epithelial cells.
  Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton. 43:296-309.
• Krendel, M., G. Sgourdas, and E.M. Bonder. 1998. Disassembly of actin filaments leads to increased rate and frequency of mitochondrial movement along microtubules. Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton. 40:368-378. Selected for journal cover
• Gloushankova, N.A., M.F. Krendel, N.A. Alieva, E.M. Bonder, H.H. Feder, J.M. Vasiliev, and I.M. Gelfand. 1998. Dynamics of contacts between lamellae of fibroblasts: essential role of the actin cytoskeleton. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 95:4362-4367.
• Gloushankova, N.A., N.A. Alieva, M.F. Krendel, E.M. Bonder, H.H. Feder, J.M. Vasiliev, and I.M. Gelfand. 1997. Cell-cell contact changes the dynamics of lamellar activity in non-transformed epitheliocytes but not in their ras-transformed descendants. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 94:879-883.
• Bonder, E.M. and D.J. Fishkind. 1995. Actin-membrane dynamics in early sea urchin development. Curr. Top. Devel. Biol. 31:101-137.
• Gloushankova, N.A., M.F. Krendel, V.A. Sirotkin, E.M. Bonder, H.H. Feder, J.M. Vasiliev, and I.M. Gelfand. 1995. Dynamics of active lamellae in cultured epithelial cells: effects of expression of exogenous N-ras oncogene. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 92:5322-5325.
• D'Andrea, L.D., M.A. Danon, G.P. Sgourdas, and E.M. Bonder. 1994. Identification of coelomocyte unconventional myosin and its association with in vivo particle/vesicle motility. J. Cell Sci. 107:2081-2094.