Sign in

Cameron Dale MacQuarrie

@cdmacquarrie.bsky.social
441 followers 619 following 56 posts

Scientist at Arcadia Science Berkeley, CA, USA Cell Biology He/Him

PostsRepliesMedia
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
We also saw reorganization of chloroplasts and mitochondria inside the transformed cells. In some, chloroplasts clustered at the periphery while mitochondria concentrated in a central zone — a striking spatial separation from their normally close association. [7/9]
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
When we stained with mitochondrial dyes, we detected signal within these appendages — in one case extending nearly 200 µm from the cell body. [6/9]
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Some of the most striking features: thin wisp-like appendages extending from cell bodies. They were barely visible in raw images but popped out after contrast enhancement. They don't beat like flagella and seem mostly static. [5/9]
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Erdschreiber's medium has similar salt levels to Marine Broth but lacks organic nutrients like peptone and yeast extract. Cells on Erdschreiber's got bigger and rounder, but didn't develop the extreme amorphous shapes. This suggests it's not just osmotic stress — organic nutrients seem key. [4/9]
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
We'd previously noticed C. smithii could grow on marine media while C. reinhardtii couldn't, and that the cells looked "larger and rounded." But we'd resuspended those cells in water, which could cause osmotic swelling. So we went back and imaged them properly — in the growth medium itself. [2/9]
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
zoogle.arcadiascience.com told us Chlamy is a great model for ADA1 — so we tried it! Come chat about it: Sunday Dec 7, 2:15–3:45 pm (digital poster, near the @ascbiology.bsky.social booth) Monday Dec 8, 2:15–3:45 pm (paper poster, B538)
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Third, after 47 days, cpc1-1 was the ONLY strain that could grow on marine medium with high salt content, revealing an unexpected halotolerance. [6/9]
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
First, cpc1-1 showed enhanced growth on media with proteose peptone, outperforming wild-type strains that barely grew in this condition! [4/9]
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Today at #CellBio24, I'll discuss our new pub at the "Quantitative Biology in Emerging Model Systems" subgroup session at 5:15 pm in Ballroom 20A. Come check it out!
011
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Despite similar motility defects, the mutations responded differently to treatment —- what rescued one mutation often had no effect on the other. This suggests mutation-specific therapeutic approaches are needed [5/8]
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
We developed two complementary approaches to measure motility: a population "sink-or-swim" assay and detailed single-cell tracking with SwimTracker (research.arcadiascience.com/pub/resource-swimtracker-htp-swimming-assay/release/2). This revealed how drugs affect different aspects of swimming [4/8]
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
These mutants were characterized decades ago and show similar swimming defects to those seen in SPGF patients' sperm. Our phylogenetic framework showed they're excellent models for SPGF83 and SPGF43 [3/8]
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
We used phylogenetic analysis from our pub led by Ryan York, Austin Patton & @pracheeac.bsky.social (research.arcadiascience.com/pub/result-evolutionary-organismal-selection) and found Chlamydomonas proteins have high conservation with SPGF proteins. [2/8]
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
Tomorrow at #CellBio24, I'll be at poster (B73) talking about some fun new work we just released using Chlamydomonas to model spermatogenic failure. Check out the poster here: zenodo.org/records/14481493 Join the fun and post your comments & questions on the pub! bit.ly/chlamy-spgf
0166
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 13/12/2023
We designed a 96-well plate magnetic field block. Surprisingly, after a week of growth on the block, we were able to clearly distinguish between these two species, consistent with C. smithii having a thinner cell wall! 7/9
magnets kill chlamy
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 13/12/2023
But this method is low-throughput, so instead, we grew cells w/ Congo red, which is toxic to cell wall (cw) mutant yeast. It wasn’t sensitive enough to distinguish btw the two WT species, but we saw less growth in cw mutants, so this is a decent assay to find algal cw mutants 5/9
Growth on TAP and TAP + Congo Red
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 13/12/2023
We started by staining the two species with calcofluor-white, which binds to cell wall components. Our analysis showed thicker staining in C. reinhardtii, consistent with C. smithii having a weaker wall (analysis in the pub!)! 4/9
algae stained with calcofluor white
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 13/12/2023
We’d also found that C. smithii is more sensitive to detergent, which could indicate less environmental protection. We’ve adapted this protocol to work in a 96-well plate. These findings led us to compare the cell wall of the species. 3/9
C. smithii released more chlorophyll when treated with detergent, consistent with a weaker cell wall
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 13/12/2023
First update! Although we’ve seen C. smithii adapting to a wide range of media, these cells are more sensitive to a harsh antibiotic-fungicide cocktail! 2/9
Spot assay of C. reinhardtii and C. smithii on TAP with or without antibiotics
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 01/12/2023
🎉 Excited to share our latest work at #CellBio23! I'll be presenting a poster on our pub “Phenotypic differences between interfertile Chlamydomonas species” and our continued work in the Protists and Parasites Cell Biology poster session (Board #723) @arcadiascience.bsky.social
132
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 11/11/2023
DALL-E's take on a colored pencil sketch of Chlamydomonas
120
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 01/09/2023
While the size differs, the roundness or 'eccentricity' of cells across both species is similar. This baseline measurement may become relevant if we see deviations from the parental shape among the hybrid progeny.
While the size differs, the roundness or 'eccentricity' of cells across both species is similar. This baseline measurement may become relevant if we see deviations from the parental shape among the hybrid progeny.
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 01/09/2023
Our update reveals that C. smithii cells are 21% larger than C. reinhardtii. We’ll consider this baseline difference when we assess the phenotypes of hybrid progeny.
Our update reveals that C. smithii cells are 21% larger than C. reinhardtii. We’ll consider this baseline difference when we assess the phenotypes of hybrid progeny.
100
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 01/09/2023
New pub update from @arcadiascience.bsky.social! ! We've just released an update to our research on the 2D cell morphology of C. reinhardtii and C. smithii, two interfertile algal species. research.arcadiascience.com/pub/result-c...
Diversity and mean of 2D morphology measurements of the 2 species
162
Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 01/09/2023
010