Colorado State University link College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences link College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences logo
Department of Biomedical Sciences link
   CSU Home     Search CSU     CVMBS Home     Site Index     Students     RamCT  
Undergraduate | Graduate | PVM | Courses | Seminars
Laboratories | Research Programs | Research Resources | BMS Faculty Pages
Continuing Education | Endocrine Lab | Equine Reproduction Lab | Sperm Morphology Services
Administration/Facilities | People | Departmental Calendar | Useful Links

 

Frontiers in Biomedical Science

2009


October 7, 2009
4:00 pm
W118 Anatomy/Zoology
Reception in the lobby following the seminar

[more information]

Polysomes, P-bodies, Stress Granules and RNA Triage: Spatial Control of mRNA Translation/Decay

Dr. Paul Anderson
K. Frank Austen Professor, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
K. Frank Austen Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Polysomes, P-bodies, Stress Granules and RNA Triage: Spatial Control of mRNA Translation/Decay
Dr. Anderson is a member of the Program in Cancer Immunology at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. His work focuses on understanding mechanisms that regulate anti-tumor immune responses, including requirements for effective innate and adaptive host responses and post-transcriptional mechanisms that regulate the production of inflammatory mediators. Many mRNAs that encode inflammatory mediators possess adenine (A) and uridine (U)-rich elements in their 3' untranslated regions that inhibit translation and promote mRNA decay. The regulated activity of proteins that bind A- and U-rich elements is required to overcome constitutive translational repression and mRNA instability. Specific binding proteins regulate the assembly of cytoplasmic processing bodies (PBs) and stress granules (SGs). SGs may function as sites of mRNA triage by determining whether individual mRNAs are degraded or reinitiated. Together, PBs and SGs cooperate in a "cytosolic dance" that mediates translation or decay of specific mRNAs.

Click here for more information on Dr. Anderson


April 8, 2009
4:00 pm
104 Albert C. Yates Hall
Reception in the lobby

[more information]

Promise for the Future: New Developoments in Stem Cell Research

Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov
Associate Scientist
Division of Reproductive Sciences at Oregon National Primate Research Center
Oregon Health and Science University

Promise for the Future: New Developments in Stem Cell Research
Dr. Mitalipov’s laboratory is interested in the genetic and epigenetic characteristics of human and monkey embryonic stem (ES) cells. ES cells are important as a unique research tool that allows investigating the mechanisms regulating early primate development and differentiation in vitro. Human ES cells also provide the far reaching foundation for the field of regenerative medicine and offer hope for the treatment of a wide range of clinical conditions that can be attributed to the loss or malfunction of specific cell types. Translational research in a clinically relevant nonhuman primate model is highly desirable to evaluate the safety, feasibility and efficacy of cell-based therapies. The basic research conducted in the lab provides new insights into the derivation, maintenance and directed differentiation of primate ES cells. Another area of interest for the Mitalipov lab is developing ES cells that are immunologically compatible to recipient animals using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Generation of ES cells from parthenogenetic or androgenetic embryos is also being explored as an alternative solution to the immune rejection problem.

Click here for more information on Dr. Mitalipov


2008


October 8, 2008
4:00 pm
W118 Anatomy/Zoology
Reception in the lobby

[more information]

Sensing Gases (NO vs. O2) Selectively in Biology: Chemistry to the Rescue

Dr. Michael Marletta
Aldo DeBenedictis Disinguished Professor of Chemistry
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of California, Berkeley
Professor of Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology at UCSF
Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Sensing Gases (NO vs. O2) Selectively in Biology: Chemistry to the Rescue
Work in Dr. Michael Marletta's laboratory lies at the interface of chemistry and biology with emphasis on the study of protein function and enzyme reaction mechanisms. Marletta and colleagues address fundamental biological questions that have broad applications in human health and disease. Discriminating between structurally similar, but functionally different gases like oxygen (O2) and NO (nitric oxide) is vital for most organisms. Cells bind and sense O2 via the heme domain of hemoglobin that cannot discriminate between O2 and NO. The enzyme "soluble guanylate cyclase" (sGC), in contrast, performs signaling interactions specifically with NO molecules critical to regulating blood pressure, and it can do so even though the similar diatomic gas O2 is usually present in excess. When NO enters a cell it activates sGC, which catalyzes the formation of cyclic GMP, a protein that relaxes and dilates blood vessels. The NO signaling pathway is also important for neuronal signal transduction and inhibition of platelet aggregation. The nematode C. elegans uses a similar H-NOX (heme-nitric oxide and/or oxygen binding) domain, in this case selective for O2, to orientate itself towards low O2 concentrations via a specialized sGC-like protein, GCY-35. For the worm, low doses of O2 indicate the presence of oxygen-consuming bacteria, its source of food in the petri dish. It is likely, that the carotid body, the small organ that monitors O2 levels in the human bloodstream, uses a similar O2-sensing mechanism.

Combining the tools of chemistry as well as molecular and structural biology, the Marletta lab has contributed significantly to our understanding of NO- versus O2-selective screening and its biological role in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. They also predicted and found specific amino acid changes that promote binding of one diatomic gas or the other. These detection mechanisms are fundamental processes and shed new light onto possible causes or treatments of a wide range of human diseases, including endocrine, cardiovascular, and neural dysfunctions.


April 10, 2008
4:00 pm
A103 Chemistry

[more information]

The Birth and Travels of RNA

Dr. Robert H. Singer, Ph.D.
Professor & Co-Chair, Anatomy & Structural Biology
Professor of Cell Biology, Professor of Neuroscience
Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York

Studying the Birth and Travels of RNA
Work in the Singer laboratory is focused on the expression and travels of RNA within cells - from sites of birth to ultimate biological destiny in the cytoplasm where RNA is translated to make proteins in specific locations. Their new technology, based on in situ hybridization, allows them to visualize specific nucleic acid sequences within individual cells using high-resolution digital imaging microscopy. The clinical application of this technology allows, inter alia, for the molecular diagnosis of cancer cells. As an additional result of this approach, they have found specific RNA sequences located in particular cellular compartments. As such, transcripts are not freely diffusing but rather appear to be spatially associated with a cellular matrix or skeleton from the moment of their synthesis through translation. They are investigating how this spatial information is encoded within the gene and how the RNA transcript is processed within the nucleus and then transported to its correct compartment in the cytoplasm. They have constructed genetically altered cells to elucidate the sequences responsible for mRNA localization. A reporter gene can be "delivered" to a variety of cellular compartments by using specific sequences, or "zipcodes" from the mRNAs found in those compartments. These "zipcodes" consist of short sequences in the 3' untranslated region of the mRNA. So far, Singer's group has isolated and cloned several proteins that bind to "zipcodes" and decode their information. Recently, they also developed a technology that allows them to visualize fast RNA movements in living cells to characterize how cellular motors connect with and drive the RNA.

http://singerlab.aecom.yu.edu/people/rhs.htm