= William J. Nicolas
{c}
<William J. Nicolas> has investigated cellular membrane architecture using three-dimensional <electron microscopy>. He is the first author of the 2017 study reconstructing <plasmodesmata> and comparing their structure with their capacity for intercellular transport.<Architecture and permeability of post-cytokinesis plasmodesmata lacking cytoplasmic sleeves by William J. Nicolas and others>[Byline and Abstract]{ref}
A <plasmodesma> contains a strand of <endoplasmic reticulum> within its enclosing <cell membrane>. <Electron tomography> showed that newly formed channels after <cytokinesis> could have such close membrane contact that an open cytoplasmic sleeve was not visible. Later <cell differentiation> and expansion were associated with a changed arrangement. Yet the newly formed structures still permitted movement of macromolecules.<Architecture and permeability of post-cytokinesis plasmodesmata lacking cytoplasmic sleeves by William J. Nicolas and others>[Abstract: developmental membrane remodeling and macromolecular diffusion]{ref}
The result makes a useful scientific distinction: an image of an apparent opening and a measurement of <plasmodesmal permeability> are not interchangeable. Structural reconstruction describes the organization captured by the imaging method; a transport assay tests whether a defined molecule actually moves between <cells>. Combining these observations challenged a simple identification of a visibly open sleeve with all intercellular exchange.
Nicolas's contribution in this work connects spatially resolved membrane structure with a functional transport measurement, rather than treating <plasmodesmata> as featureless holes in a <cell wall>.
Homepage: https://www.wjnicolas.com/
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