Khalid Salaita
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View article: Display of clustered antigen by follicular dendritic cells tunes B-cell receptor activation
Display of clustered antigen by follicular dendritic cells tunes B-cell receptor activation Open
To generate high-affinity antibodies against pathogens, B cells engage antigens displayed on the surface of follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) in secondary lymphoid tissues. Binding of cognate antigen by the B-cell receptor (BCR) causes Src…
View article: Fuel-Free Rolosense: Viral Sensing Using Diffusional Particle Tracking
Fuel-Free Rolosense: Viral Sensing Using Diffusional Particle Tracking Open
High-sensitivity viral diagnostics typically use PCR to detect and amplify viral nucleic acids which requires fluorescence reporters, enzymatic amplification, specialized equipment and can be time-consuming. In this work, we describe fuel-…
View article: Chimeric Antigen Receptors Transmit Piconewton Forces that are Coupled with T Cell Function
Chimeric Antigen Receptors Transmit Piconewton Forces that are Coupled with T Cell Function Open
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are engineered to display a receptor that binds antigens expressed on the surface of cancerous cells, which leads to cancer cytotoxicity. Recently, the T cell field has come to recognize the role of …
View article: Mechano-ID: Proximity Labeling of Mechanically Active Receptors Reveals the Mechanome and Tags Mechanically Active Cells
Mechano-ID: Proximity Labeling of Mechanically Active Receptors Reveals the Mechanome and Tags Mechanically Active Cells Open
A major challenge in the field of mechanobiology relates to the lack of methods that enable the identification of mechanically active receptors, associated proteins, and the individual cells that display enhanced force generation. For exam…
View article: DNA Origami Tension Sensors (DOTS) for Single-Molecule Force Measurements at Fluid Intermembrane Junctions
DNA Origami Tension Sensors (DOTS) for Single-Molecule Force Measurements at Fluid Intermembrane Junctions Open
A key event in triggering adaptive immunity is the binding of a T cell receptor (TCR) to its antigen at the T cell-target cell interface. Mechanical forces are critical for TCR-antigen interactions, where piconewton (pN) forces modulate im…
View article: Author Correction: Nanoscale optomechanical actuators for controlling mechanotransduction in living cells
Author Correction: Nanoscale optomechanical actuators for controlling mechanotransduction in living cells Open
View article: Exploring the Subcellular Localization and Degradation of Spherical Nucleic Acids Using Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy
Exploring the Subcellular Localization and Degradation of Spherical Nucleic Acids Using Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy Open
Spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) are a powerful class of nucleic acids with broad applications that span from diagnostic sensors to nanoflares and gene therapeutic agents. SNAs accomplish these varied tasks by taking advantage of the program…
View article: On-Demand Photoactivation of DNA-Based Motor Motion
On-Demand Photoactivation of DNA-Based Motor Motion Open
A major challenge in the field of synthetic motors relates to mimicking the precise, on-demand motion of biological motor proteins, which mediates processes such as cargo transport, cell locomotion, and cell division. To address thi…
View article: Digital and Tunable Genetically Encoded Tension Sensors Based on Engineered Coiled‐Coils
Digital and Tunable Genetically Encoded Tension Sensors Based on Engineered Coiled‐Coils Open
Genetically encoded tension sensors (GETSs) allow for quantifying forces experienced by intracellular proteins involved in mechanotransduction. The vast majority of GETSs are comprised of a FRET pair flanking an elastic “spring‐like” domai…
View article: Mechanical force regulates ligand binding and function of PD-1
Mechanical force regulates ligand binding and function of PD-1 Open
Despite the success of PD-1 blockade in cancer therapy, how PD-1 initiates signaling remains unclear. Soluble PD-L1 is found in patient sera and can bind PD-1 but fails to suppress T cell function. Here, we show that PD-1 function is reduc…
View article: Measuring Integrin Force Loading Rates Using a Two-Step DNA Tension Sensor
Measuring Integrin Force Loading Rates Using a Two-Step DNA Tension Sensor Open
Cells apply forces to extracellular matrix (ECM) ligands through transmembrane integrin receptors: an interaction which is intimately involved in cell motility, wound healing, cancer invasion and metastasis. These small (piconewton) integr…
View article: Mechanical control of antigen detection and discrimination by T and B cell receptors
Mechanical control of antigen detection and discrimination by T and B cell receptors Open
View article: Rolosense: Mechanical Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Using a DNA-Based Motor
Rolosense: Mechanical Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Using a DNA-Based Motor Open
Assays that detect viral infections play a significant role in limiting the spread of diseases such as SARS-CoV-2. Here, we present Rolosense, a virus sensing platform that leverages the motion of 5 μm DNA-based motors on RNA fuel chips to…
View article: Measuring integrin force loading rates using a two-step DNA tension sensor
Measuring integrin force loading rates using a two-step DNA tension sensor Open
Cells apply forces to extracellular matrix (ECM) ligands through transmembrane integrin receptors: an interaction which is intimately involved in cell motility, wound healing, cancer invasion and metastasis. These small (pN) forces exerted…
View article: Force-Induced Site-Specific Enzymatic Cleavage Probes Reveal That Serial Mechanical Engagement Boosts T Cell Activation
Force-Induced Site-Specific Enzymatic Cleavage Probes Reveal That Serial Mechanical Engagement Boosts T Cell Activation Open
The T cell membrane is studded with >104 T cell receptors (TCRs) that are used to scan target cells to identify short peptide fragments associated with viral infection or cancerous mutation. These peptides are presented as pepti…
View article: Molecular Compressive Force Sensor for Mapping Forces at the Cell–Substrate Interface
Molecular Compressive Force Sensor for Mapping Forces at the Cell–Substrate Interface Open
Mechanical forces are crucial for biological processes such as T cell antigen recognition. A suite of molecular tension probes to measure pulling forces have been reported over the past decade; however, there are no reports of molecular pr…
View article: An Endosomal Escape Trojan Horse Platform to Improve Cytosolic Delivery of Nucleic Acids
An Endosomal Escape Trojan Horse Platform to Improve Cytosolic Delivery of Nucleic Acids Open
Endocytosis is a major bottleneck toward cytosolic delivery of nucleic acids, as the vast majority of nucleic acid drugs remain trapped within endosomes. Current trends to overcome endosomal entrapment and subsequent degradation provide va…
View article: Cbl-b mitigates the responsiveness of naive CD8 <sup>+</sup> T cells that experience extensive tonic T cell receptor signaling
Cbl-b mitigates the responsiveness of naive CD8 <sup>+</sup> T cells that experience extensive tonic T cell receptor signaling Open
Naive T cells experience tonic T cell receptor (TCR) signaling in response to self-antigens presented by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in secondary lymphoid organs. We investigated how relatively weak or strong tonic TCR signals i…
View article: The T-cell niche tunes immune function through modulation of the cytoskeleton and TCR-antigen forces
The T-cell niche tunes immune function through modulation of the cytoskeleton and TCR-antigen forces Open
Obesity is a major public health crisis given its rampant growth and association with an increased risk for cancer. Interestingly, patients with obesity tend to have an increased tumor burden and decreased T-cell function. It remains uncle…
View article: Simulated microgravity improves maturation of cardiomyocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells
Simulated microgravity improves maturation of cardiomyocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells Open
View article: DNA mechanocapsules for programmable piconewton responsive drug delivery
DNA mechanocapsules for programmable piconewton responsive drug delivery Open
The mechanical dysregulation of cells is associated with a number of disease states, that spans from fibrosis to tumorigenesis. Hence, it is highly desirable to develop strategies to deliver drugs based on the “mechanical phenotype” of a c…
View article: “Turbo‐Charged” DNA Motors with Optimized Sequence Enable Single‐Molecule Nucleic Acid Sensing
“Turbo‐Charged” DNA Motors with Optimized Sequence Enable Single‐Molecule Nucleic Acid Sensing Open
DNA motors that consume chemical energy to generate processive mechanical motion mimic natural motor proteins and have garnered interest due to their potential applications in dynamic nanotechnology, biosensing, and drug delivery. Such mot…
View article: Author Correction: Mechanically active integrins target lytic secretion at the immune synapse to facilitate cellular cytotoxicity
Author Correction: Mechanically active integrins target lytic secretion at the immune synapse to facilitate cellular cytotoxicity Open
View article: Detection of cellular traction forces via the force-triggered Cas12a-mediated catalytic cleavage of a fluorogenic reporter strand
Detection of cellular traction forces via the force-triggered Cas12a-mediated catalytic cleavage of a fluorogenic reporter strand Open
View article: Nanodiscoidal Nucleic Acids for Gene Regulation
Nanodiscoidal Nucleic Acids for Gene Regulation Open
Therapeutic nucleic acids represent a powerful class of drug molecules to control gene expression and protein synthesis. A major challenge in this field is that soluble oligonucleotides have limited serum stability, and the majority of nuc…
View article: Molecular mechanocytometry using tension-activated cell tagging
Molecular mechanocytometry using tension-activated cell tagging Open
View article: Force‐Triggered Self‐Destructive Hydrogels
Force‐Triggered Self‐Destructive Hydrogels Open
Self‐destructive polymers (SDPs) are defined as a class of smart polymers that autonomously degrade upon experiencing an external trigger, such as a chemical cue or optical excitation. Because SDPs release the materials trapped inside the …
View article: Optomechanically Actuated Hydrogel Platform for Cell Stimulation with Spatial and Temporal Resolution
Optomechanically Actuated Hydrogel Platform for Cell Stimulation with Spatial and Temporal Resolution Open
Cells exist in the body in mechanically dynamic environments, yet the vast majority of in vitro cell culture is conducted on static materials such as plastic dishes and gels. To address this limitation, we report an approach to tran…
View article: Mechanical force regulates ligand binding and function of PD-1
Mechanical force regulates ligand binding and function of PD-1 Open
Immune checkpoint blockade targeting PD-1 shows great success in cancer therapy. However, the mechanism of how ligand binding initiates PD-1 signaling remains unclear. As prognosis markers of multiple cancers, soluble PD-L1 is found in pat…
View article: Force-induced site-specific enzymatic cleavage probes reveal that serial mechanical engagement boosts T cell activation
Force-induced site-specific enzymatic cleavage probes reveal that serial mechanical engagement boosts T cell activation Open
The surface of T cells is studded with T cell receptors (TCRs) that are used to scan target cells to identify peptide-major histo-compatibility complexes (pMHCs) signatures of viral infection or cancerous mutation. It is now established th…