# Spatiotemporal Control of Migratory Cellular Behavior

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2021 · $340,156

## Abstract

Project Summary
There is keen interest in identifying the biochemical pathways that promote tumor intracerebral infiltration since
members of these pathways serve as potential therapeutic targets. Unfortunately, the spatiotemporal nature of
these pathways renders the application of conventional tools (over/under-expression of the proteins of interest,
inhibitory compounds, etc.) inadequate for studying dynamic cell behavior. We seek to engineer and evaluate
optogenetic analogs of cofilin, cofilin’s upstream activators (slingshot and chronophin), and cofilin’s upstream
negative regulators (LIM protein kinase, the cAMP-dependent protein kinase, the p21 activated protein kinase,
and rho-associated protein kinase). These species offer a means to correlate spatially-focused biochemical
activity with dynamic cellular behavior including F-actin remodeling activity as well as migratory and invasive
aptitudes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10135157
- **Project number:** 5R01NS103486-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID S. LAWRENCE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $340,156
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-06-15 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10135157

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10135157, Spatiotemporal Control of Migratory Cellular Behavior (5R01NS103486-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10135157. Licensed CC0.

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