My PhD project focuses on investigating how mechanosensing behaviors of podosomes regulate adhesion signaling during phagocytosis. To directly control podosome dynamics, I am developing adhesion molecule analogs that can be controlled with light. Additionally, I am developing novel biosensors for key signaling molecules involved in phagocytic signaling. Combining these tools will allow me to probe how cells convert mechanical information to cellular signaling during phagocytosis, and potentially to decipher the role of signaling oscillations in sensing and responding to the mechanical properties of the substrate.