Abstracts

Writing a scientific abstract is a challenging and important skill in science. It has to be short and clear, but still convey the information about your project. Most abstracts have a style that takes the reader from broad to specific. In a sense, the general outline is like an inverted triangle.

Broad statement about something important++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

         Statement about your research related to the important thing.+++++++++++++++

                    There is an open problem that has not yet been solved related.

                                What you did to address that question.

                                              Your results+++++++++

                                                         Significance

Here, we have some example abstracts to help you craft your own.

In the cell, microtubules spread create a network throughout the cytoplasm, like an intracellular highway system, that can be used to transport goods around the cell. Kinesin-1 uses energy derived from ATP hydrolysis to walk towards microtubule plus ends to deliver cargoes, such as organelles or mRNA to the cell periphery. Multiple motors often work together to transport a single cargo. Transport properties of both single kinesin motors and single cargoes carried by multiple motors have been characterized. However, these studies are typically done in dilute conditions that do not accurately represent the cellular environment, where crowding or motor exchange on cargoes can occur. To address crowding and motor exchange, we use quantum dots, known to spontaneously bind kinesin-1, as cargo in our experiments and high concentrations of kinesin-1 to mimic crowded conditions on microtubules. Our system allows cargoes to self-assemble with exchanging kinesin-1 motors as the cargo is transported. Using Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) Microscopy, we tracked individual cargoes over a individual cargoes over a wide range of kinesin-1 concentrations to mimic varying degrees of crowded conditions. We found that while the velocity of cargoes decreased as conditions became more crowded, the run length and total association time of cargoes increased.  We observed that cargoes paused more frequently in crowded conditions. Interestingly, we also observed cargo reversal events during runs, which were more likely to occur in crowded conditions. We believe these reversals occur when multiple motors are bound to a single cargo. If the leading motor is stretched and under strain, if it detaches, the cargo will rock backwards. Using statistical mechanics simulations, we can recapitulate velocity reduction, increased pausing, and reversals. Our results are significant because they demonstrate that the architecture of the microtubule network can dictate where and how fast motors and cargos travel in the cell. This has important implications for cell differentiation and homeostasis.