D. Allan Drummond, Associate Professor, Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Dept. of Medicine, University of Chicago, will give a talk on "Rethinking the cellular stress response."

ABSTRACT

Cells across the tree of life react to sudden maladaptive changes--stresses--in consistent ways. Proteins and mRNAs aggregate, most protein synthesis halts, and mRNAs encoding chaperones, long considered components of a protein-misfolding rescue system, are massively expressed and selectively translated. Heat shock, oxidative stress, starvation, and other so-called proteotoxic stresses trigger similar reactions, leading to the model that stress-induced formation of toxic misfolded aggregates is the central challenge met by cellular responses. However, evidence has mounted for a fundamentally different coexisting model: that cells use biomolecular condensation to sense and transduce stress, that condensation reorganizes the cell to redirect activity toward stress-appropriate programs, and that chaperones are major regulators of condensation. Rather than toxic aggregates, the central phenomena are adaptive condensates. I will discuss the unique aspects of adaptive condensation, both empirical and conceptual, with an emphasis on open questions.
 

Zoom link: https://gc-cuny.zoom.us/j/96677631144. Meeting ID:  966 776 31144. Passcode: asrc-ccny