In this project, the PI will test a novel hypothesis that eukaryotic cells use wave fringe counting to measure their lengths and shapes. The project was inspired by an experiment showing that strong alternating electric fields disrupt mitosis in a way that is resonant at radio frequencies. The PI will bring ideas from physics, where it is well understood that fringe counting is the method for measuring lengths stable at large scales. The PI hypothesis that fringe counting work cells uses simulated inertia: a method commonly by human engineers in designing microchips and also playing role in biology in the functioning of the cochlea. The larger objective of the proposed research is to identify the meter sticks of life. The intellectual merit of the proposed research might lead to a fundamentally new understanding of cell regulatory machinery. A potential discovery that cells can and do measure lengths by means of fringe counting would open a new chapter in our understanding of morphogenesis and biology in general and can lead to transformation of medicine.
