Seminar by Dr. Mariko Okada-Hatakeyama. "Quantitative changes in signaling pathway drive qualitative cell decision"

Dear all,

Cell Signal Unit(Yamamoto Unit) would like to invite you to a seminar by Dr. Mariko Okada-Hatakeyama.

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Date: Wednesday, April 24th

Time: 16:00 – 17:00

Venue: C016, Lab1

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Speaker: Dr. Mariko Okada-Hatakeyama

Team Leader, Laboratory for Integrated Cellular Systems RIKEN, IMS-RCAI

Title: Quantitative changes in signaling pathway drive qualitative cell decision

Abstract: In mammalian cells, intracellular signaling pathways modulate amplitude and duration of the signal by employing their logic structures. Here we present data-driven ODE-based models of MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) and NF-κB (nuclear factor-κB) pathways and discuss about common and unique features of these pathways. In the process of differentiation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells, prolonged MAPK activation along with c-fos transcription and c-Fos protein stabilization by MAPK forms a coherent feedforward AND-gate for full activation of c-Fos transcription factor. On the other hand, NF-κB activity in immune B cell is controlled by a positive feedback from IKKβ to TAK1 enforced by CARMA 578 phosphorylation. Therefore the TAK1-IKKβ feedback loop can produce a switch-like activation of NF-κB transcriptional activity. In these two examples of MAPK and NF-κB pathways, signaling cascades are utilized to transform analogous signal information to digital activation of transcriptional factors. Our study indicates a strategy of living cells to shift their cellular states by using mechanistic logics.

Host: 

Tadashi Yamamoto, Cell Signal Unit

We look forward to seeing many of you.