Education

Postdoctoral Fellow
Harvard Medical School & Boston Children's Hospital, 2019
Postdoctoral Fellow
Seoul National University, South Korea, 2012
Ph.D.
University of California, Irvine, 2010

Areas of Interest

Research Interests

Mechanoregulation of cellular adhesion and migrationCellular adhesion and migration require an intricate orchestration of membrane receptors and the cytoskeleton to transduce bidirectional force from extracellular substrates. When dysregulated, a myriad of pathologies can emerge from decreased immune extravasation (leukocyte adhesion deficiency), aberrant immune infiltration (rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease and atherosclerosis) and tumor metastasis via epithelial-mesenchymal transition. While the importance of the forces generated between cell-cell/ECM and the cytoskeleton are appreciated in cellular regulation, it is unknown how force sensing surface receptors and adhesion complexes dynamically respond to forces and transduce mechanical information. Integrins are one such family of cell surface mechanoreceptors.

Integrin signaling is complex due to their capacity to transmit signals bi-directionally from their extracellular ligand-binding domain, conveying information about substrate availability and stiffness, and from their cytoplasmic domains linking to signal transduction pathways. These intracellular signaling pathways transmit information from chemokine receptors to modulate the activation state of integrins and represent canonical inside-out signaling. Recent evidence supports another branch of inside-out signaling that involves a role for a mechanical component and the actin cytoskeleton. Integrin activation is dependent on their ability to transduce mechanical forces between the actin cytoskeleton and immobilized or cell surface-bound ligand. It is apparent that this force transduction acts as an allosteric effector resulting in integrin conformational change and associated changes in affinity, but the molecular mechanisms driving integrin activation and their regulation at the cellular level remain unclear and is essential to understanding how integrins function to mediate dynamic cellular adhesion and migration.

This cytoskeletal force model of integrin activation inherently links cell polarization and the actin cytoskeleton with integrin activation at the same location within the cell, preventing aberrant integrin-mediated adhesion by limiting active integrins only to where the cell can gain traction. To elucidate the mechanisms of actin’s mechanoregulation of integrin activation will require both functional studies and the development of new methods to measure actin cytoskeleton and integrin dynamics quantitatively. We will utilize super-resolution microscopy, computational image analysis, genome modification, and protein chemistry to understand the cytoskeleton’s linkage to integrins and directly measure integrin conformation on the cell surface, advancing our understanding of the regulation of cell adhesiveness and migration.

Publications

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Travis I Moore, Jesse Aaron, Teng-Leong Chew, and Timothy A Springer. (2018). Measuring Integrin Conformational Change on the Cell Surface with Super-Resolution Microscopy. Cell Reports, 22 (7), 1903–1912.

Pontus Nordenfelt*, Travis I Moore*, Shalin B Mehta*, Joseph K Matthew**, Vinay Swaminathan**, Koga Nobuyasu, Talley J Lambert, David Baker, Jennifer C Waters, Rudolf Oldenbourg, Tomomi Tani, Satyajit Mayor, Clare M Waterman and Timothy A Springer. (2017). Direction of Actin Flow Dictates Integrin LFA-1 Orientation During Leukocyte Migration. Nature Communications, 8(1), 673.  *, ** These authors contributed equally.

Vinay Swaminathan*, Joseph K Matthew*, Shalin B Mehta*, Pontus Nordenfelt**, Travis I Moore**, Koga Nobuyasu, Talley J Lambert, David Baker, Jennifer C Waters, Rudolf Oldenbourg, Tomomi Tani, Satyajit Mayor, Timothy A Springer and Clare M Waterman. (2017). Actin Retrograde Flow Actively Aligns and Orients Ligand-engaged Integrins in Focal Adhesions. PNAS, 114(40) 40648-10653. *, **  These authors contributed equally.

Ching-Shan Chou*, Travis I Moore*, Qing Nie, and Tau-Mu Yi. (2015). Alternative cell polarity behaviors arise from bifurcations in G-protein spatial dynamics. IET Systems Biology, 9(2) 52-63. *These authors contributed equally.

Travis I Moore, Hiromasa Tanaka, Hyung Joon Kim, Noo Li Jeon, and Tau-Mu Yi. (2013). Yeast G-proteins mediate directional sensing and polarization behaviors in response to changes in pheromone gradient direction. Mol Biol Cell, 24(4) 521-534.

Gabriel A Quinones, Travis I Moore, Katrina Nicholes, Hyunjae Lee, Laura Sun, Noo Li Jeon, Jean-Philippe Stephan. (2013). New Wall-less Plate Technology Enabling Cell-based Investigations. Blood, 21(7) 25-35.

Ching-Shan Chou*, Travis I Moore*, Steven Chang, Qing Nie, and Tau-Mu Yi. (2012). Signaling regulated endocytosis and exocytosis lead to mating pheromone concentration dependent morphologies in yeast. FEBS letters 586(23), 4208-14. *These authors contributed equally.

Travis I Moore, Ching-Shan Chou, Noo Li Jeon, Qing Nie, and Tau-Mu Yi. (2008). Robust spatial sensing of mating pheromone gradients by yeast cells.  PLoS One 3, e3865.

Ron Waksman, Pauline E McEwan, Travis I Moore, Frank D Kolodige, David G Hellinga, Rufus C Seabron, Steven Rychnovsky, Jefferey Vasek, Robert W Scott, Renu Virmani. (2008). PhotoPoint photodynamic therapy promotes stabilization of atherosclerotic plaques and inhibits plaque progression. J Am College Cardiology 52, 1024-1032.

Jonathan A Deane, Michael G Kharas, Jean S Oak, Linda N Stiles, Ji Luo, Travis I Moore, Hong Ji, Christian Rommel, Lewis C Cantley, Thomas E Lane, and David A Fruman. (2007). T-cell function is partially maintained in the absence of class IA phosphoinositide 3-kinase signaling.  Blood 109, 2894-2902.

Kristen L Hess, Amber C Donahue, Kwan L Ng, Travis I Moore, Jean Oak, and David A Fruman.  (2004).  Frontline: The p85alpha isoform of phosphoinositide 3-kinase is essential for a subset of B cell receptor-initiated signaling responses. European J Immunology 34, 2968-2976.