Areas of Interest
My general research interests center on understanding membrane
organization, particularly the organization of structural and
functional domains within the plasma membrane. A primary
research project explores the development and maintenance of
plasma membrane domains during mammalian spermatogenesis using
biochemical techniques, high resolution light microscopy, and,
in collaboration with Dr. Dennis Koppel, biophysical analyses
such as fluorescence photobleaching. A second project involves
an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Peter Setlow in the department
to analyze the dramatic changes in membrane organization that
occur during sporulation in Bacillus subtilis.
As Deputy Director of the Center for Cell Analysis and
Modeling, I oversee our light microscopy user facility, which
provides access to state-of-the-art instrumentation in
high-resolution fluorescence microscopy to the general research
community. The Center for Biomedical Imaging Technology is also
home to the NIH-funded National Resource for Cell Analysis and
Modeling (NRCAM). NRCAM develops tools for quantitative cell
biology research. Our approach is to combine high resolution
quantitative imaging and biochemical analyses with mathematical
modeling to develop computational simulations of specific
cellular events. NRCAM has created the “Virtual Cell” modeling
environment, a tool for creating spatially realistic
mathematical models of cellular processes using a web-based
interface that is freely available to the academic research
community.
Selected Publications
Cowan, A.E., E.M. Olivastro, D.E. Koppel, C.A. Loshon, B.
Setlow, and P. Setlow. 2004. Lipids in the inner membrane of
dormant spores of Bacillus species are largely immobile. Proc
Natl Acad Sci U S A. 101:7733-8. Epub 2004 May 4.
Setlow, B., A.E. Cowan, and P. Setlow. 2003. Germination of
spores of Bacillus subtilis with dodecylamine. J Appl
Microbiol. 95:637-48.
Cowan, A.E., D.E. Koppel, L.A. Vargas, and G.R. Hunnicutt.
2001. Guinea pig fertilin exhibits restricted lateral mobility
in epididymal sperm and becomes freely diffusing during
capacitation. Dev Biol. 236:502-9. |
