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Faculty
 Ann
Cowan
Assistant Professor of Molecular, Microbial & Structural Biology
Deputy Director, Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling
acowan@nso2.uchc.edu
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. |
