O seminário do iBiMED intitulado “Genome editing of human stem cells for studies of intracellular trafficking”, terá a participação de David G. Drubin, professor de Biologia Celular e do Desenvolvimento e investigador na Divisão de Genética, Genómica e Desenvolvimento, do Departamento de Biologia Celular e Molecular, da Universidade da Califórnia, em Berkeley.
A apresentação está a cargo de Manuel Santos, Diretor do Departamento de Ciências Médicas da UA e coordenador do centro de investigação iBiMED – Instituto de Biomedicina da Universidade de Aveiro.
O seminário está aberto a toda a comunidade e tem lugar no dia 27 de abril, das 14h30 às 16h, no anfiteatro 1, do Departamento de Ciências Medicas.

Abstract da apresentação:

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is the best-studied pathway by which cells selectively internalize molecules from the plasma membrane and surrounding environment. Two recent advances offer great promise for accelerating progress in cell biology research and increasing the insights that can be gained.  One is the development of genome editing technology. The other is the wide-spread availability of human stem cells that can be differentiated into cells of different fates. 

Previous live-cell imaging studies using ectopically overexpressed fluorescent fusions of endocytic proteins indicated that mammalian CME is a highly dynamic but inefficient and heterogeneous process. In contrast, studies of endocytosis in budding yeast using fluorescent protein fusions expressed at physiological levels from native genomic loci have revealed a process that is very regular and efficient. To analyze endocytic dynamics in human cells in which endogenous protein stoichiometry is preserved, we are targeting zinc finger nucleases, TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9 to endocytic protein genomic loci and have generated numerous stable cell lines expressing combinations of fluorescent protein fusions from these genomic loci. The genome-edited cells exhibited enhanced endocytic function, dynamics and efficiency when compared with previously studied cells, indicating that CME is highly sensitive to the levels of its protein components. Genome editing is a robust tool for expressing protein fusions at endogenous levels to faithfully report subcellular localization and dynamics. In the last few years, we have begun to edit human stem cells rather than tissue culture cells. These cells have normal ploidy, they can be differentiated into many different cell types isogenically, and they can be used to form tissue-like organoids for the study of cellular processes in the tissue context. CME dynamics are vastly different between fibroblasts, stem cells and neural progenitor cells.
Os seminários do iBiMED realizam-se todas as quartas-feiras às 14H30 e são abertos a toda a comunidade académica.

Esta é uma iniciativa do American Corner, em colaboração com a Embaixada dos Estados Unidos.

Mais informação para soliveira@ua.pt.