Veikko Geyer
Collective effects in single cell locomotion
Project: To find an optimal habitat, single cell organisms sense gradients in their environment and follow these gradients by means of cell locomotion. I am interested in how cell locomotion is achieved and controled by eukaryotic single cell alga. We study the generatino of locomotion in Diatoms and the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii on the cellular, sub-cellular and molecular level:
On the cellular level we characterize cell-motility in dependence of external environmental cues. On the sub-cellular level we investigate the dynamics of force generating organells like the axoneme. On the molecular level we explore mechanisms that coordianate molecular motors. Motor coordination gives rise to the phenomena observed on the levels above.
Methods: We use genetic tools, in situ reconstitution approaches combined with in vitro single molecule techniques, high-speed imaging and theoretical analysis.
Collaborators: At B CUBE I closely work with Nicole Poulsen on diatom motility.
We have further external collaborations on the motility of Chlamydomonas with
Kirsty Wan, Benjamin Friedrich, Pablo Sartori and Joe Howard.
Teaching:
Grundlagen der Biostatistik
2023
Horizontal Magnetic Tweezers to Directly Measure the Force-Velocity Relationship for Multiple Kinesin Motors
V. F. Geyer, S. Diez
Small, p. 2300558, (2023), DOI: 10.1002/SMLL.202300558.
doi.org/10.1002/smll.202300558
2022
Howard, J., Chasteen, A., Ouyang, X., Geyer, V. F., & Sartori, P.
Predicting the locations of force-generating dyneins in beating cilia and flagella.
Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 0, 1991.
https://doi.org/10.3389/FCELL.2022.995847
Poulsen, N., Hennig, H., Geyer, V. F., Diez, S., Wetherbee, R., Fitz‐Gibbon, S., Pellegrini, M., & Kröger, N.
On the role of cell surface associated, mucin-like glycoproteins in the pennate diatom Craspedostauros australis (Bacillariophyceae).
Journal of Phycology.
https://doi.org/10.1111/JPY.13287
Geyer, V. F., Howard, J., & Sartori, P.
Ciliary beating patterns map onto a low-dimensional behavioural space.
Nature Physics 2022 18:3, 18 (3), 332–337.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-021-01446-2
Here is the cover art of the march issue!
2020
Drechsler, H., Xu, Y., Geyer, V. F., Zhang, Y. & Diez, S.
Multivalent electrostatic microtubule interactions of synthetic peptides are sufficient to mimic advanced MAP-like behavior.
Mol. Biol. Cell 30, 2953–2968.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31599700/
2018
Geyer, V. F., Sartori, P., Jülicher, F. & Howard, J.
Dyneins: Bookchapter 9 - Computational modeling of dynein activity and the generation of flagellar beating waveforms.
Academic Press, 192–212.
2016
P. Sartori, V.F. Geyer, F. Jülicher and J. Howard
Curvature regulation of the ciliary beat through axonemal twist.
Phys. Rev. E. 94, 042426.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27104582/
Sartori, P., Geyer, V. F., Scholich, A., Jülicher, F., & Howard, J.
Dynamic curvature regulation accounts for the symmetric and asymmetric beats of Chlamydomonas flagella.
ELife, 5 (MAY2016).
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13258
X. Xiao, V. F. Geyer, H.Bowne-Anderson, J. Howard, I. F. Sbalzarini
Automatic Optimal Filament Segmentation with Sub-pixel Accuracy using Generalized Linear Models and B-Spline Level-Sets.
Medical Image Analysis. 32, pp.157–72.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27104582/
Geyer, V. F., Sartori, P., Friedrich, B. M., Jülicher, F., & Howard, J.
Independent Control of the Static and Dynamic Components of the Chlamydomonas Flagellar Beat.
Current Biology, 26 (8), 1098–1103.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.02.053
C. Battle, C. P. Broedersz, N. Fakhri, V.F. Geyer, J. Howard, C.F. Schmidt and F. C. MacKintosh
Broken detailed balance at mesoscopic scales in active biological systems.
Science, 352(6285), pp. 604–607.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac8167
2014
Mukundan, V., Sartori, P., Geyer, V. F., Jülicher, F., & Howard, J.
Motor regulation results in distal forces that bend partially disintegrated Chlamydomonas axonemes into circular arcs.
Biophysical Journal, 106 (11), 2434–2442.
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.BPJ.2014.03.046
V. F. Geyer & B.M. Friedrich, 2014. Grünalgen wackeln sich in den Takt, Physik in unserer Zeit.
2013
V. F. Geyer, F. Jülicher, J. Howard, and B. M. Friedrich, 2013.
Cell-body rocking is a dominant mechanism for flagellar synchronization in a swimming alga.
PNAS, 110(45), pp.18058–18063.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1300895110
V. F. Geyer
Characterization of the flagellar beat of the single cell green alga Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii.
PhD Thesis, Technische Universität, Dresden.
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-130922
2012
J. Alper , V. F. Geyer, V. Mukundan, J. Howard
Reconstitution of flagellar sliding.
Methods in enzymology, 524, pp.343–369.
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-397945-2.00019-6
Veikko F. Geyer
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Education
2013-2013 PhD in Physics, MPI-CBG Dresden / TU Dresden
2001-2008 Diploma in Biophysics, Humboldt Universität Berlin
Positions
2017- Postdoctoral Associate, TU Dresden, B CUBE
2016-2017 Associate Research Scientist, Yale University
2013-2016 Postdoctoral Associate, Yale University, MB&B Department
2009-2013 PhD thesis, MPI-CBG Dresden, International PhD program, DIGS-BB 2005-2009 Research Assistant, MPI-CBG, Dresden
2001-2008 Diploma in Biophysics, Humboldt Universität Berlin, Germany
Teaching
2021- Biostatistics, Bachelor Biology, TU Dresden
2017- Organizer and supervisor of practical courses in biophysics
2011-2014 Teaching Assistant in the Physiology Course in Woods Hole, MA
Conferences
2019 Organizer, Physics and Physiology of Motile Cilia, Heraeus-Seminar, Bad Honnef
Invited talks
2018 DGZ Young Scientists’ Forum, Humboldt Universität Berlin
2017 Engineering Life Form and Function Symposium, Dresden
2017 The future of integrative structural biology, Clemson University
2016 MPI for Biochemistry Martinsried, Department of Biophysics
2016 Humboldt Universität Berlin, Department of Biophysics
2015 University of California, Department of Microbiology
2014 University of Vermont, Department of Physiology & Biophysics
2010 Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, San Francisco
2009-2013
PhD fellowship of the Dresden International Graduate School for Biomedicine and Bioengineering, DIGS-BB