DeWitt Stetten, Jr. Lecture
Established by NIGMS in 1982 and presented annually in honor of Dr. Stetten, the third NIGMS director, this annual lecture is part of the Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series.
Elements of health and disease: inorganic fluxes and metal receptors that control cell fate decisions
For the past three decades, Thomas V. O'Halloran has investigated how fluctuations in the amount of metal ions inside cells influence key cellular decisions. Using genetic, chemical, structural, and mechanistic approaches, he has uncovered new types of metal receptors and tied their function to a number of disease-related physiological processes. O'Halloran identified early examples of metal ion receptors called metalloregulatory proteins that regulate gene expression.
Form meets function: Structurally diverse cilia and their roles in sensory signaling
Primary cilia are microtubule-based organelles that are now known to be present on nearly all differentiated cell types in metazoans. Cilia house signaling molecules that transduce environmental cues and regulate cellular homeostasis and organismal development. Disruption of cilia structure or function is linked with a plethora of diseases termed ciliopathies, many of which are characterized by sensory defects.
The mechanisms of cytoskeletal motor proteins
Movement is a fundamental property of living organisms. The contraction of muscles, beating of cilia and flagella, segregation of genetic material during mitosis, and intracellular transport of membranes, proteins and mRNAs are driven by molecular motor proteins that move along cytoskeletal filaments. Dr. Vale’s laboratory, whose research is funded by NIH, has studied kinesin and dynein, the two types of motors that move along microtubule tracks.
The page was last updated on Thursday, January 29, 2015 - 2:31pm
