We kindly invite you to the Friday Seminar with Dr. Ünal Coscun (Technische Universität, Dresden).
His talk is titled “Lipid-protein interactions as determinants for cell signaling outcomes”.
Lecture Abstract
From the clinical perspective, the contribution of dietary fat, for instance to insulin resistance and cancer, is well accepted. From the basic research point of view, however, dietary fats extend far beyond serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
Cellular membranes contain thousands of distinct lipid species and we have only begun appreciating their implications in cellular functions, such as signaling. One aspect of lipid function is the building of biological membranes; thus, lipids are key determinants of membrane physicochemical properties. The initial steps of receptor signaling occur at the plasma membrane: adapter and downstream effector proteins need to directly attach to the site of action at the membrane to accomplish their function. From an objective perspective, it is entirely not understood how cell signaling outcomes can be controlled at all, considering the fact the myriad of membrane receptors signal though commonly shared signaling effector proteins. Are membrane lipid-protein interactions key to ultimately understanding cell signaling?
In my presentation I will give an overview of how dietary lipid directly contribute to the remodeling of membrane lipidomes at the organ level, and how these changes directly impact on the structure and function of the human EGF and Insulin receptors and their downstream signaling effector proteins. My talk will contain an overview of state of the art lipid analysis tools as well as in vitro approaches to study the essential function of lipids in cell signaling and their importance in biomedical research.
Short biography
Dr. Coskun heads the Membrane Biochemistry Group at the Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden, a satellite institute of the Helmholtz Zentrum Munich. After receiving his PhD at the Saarland University (Institute of Biophysics) he switched his research focus from studying the structure/function of membrane proteins to lipid-protein interactions and joined he lab of Kai Simons at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics Dresden. The Coskun lab studies the influence of dietary lipids in remodeling the the membrane lipidome of organs and cells and how direct lipid-protein interaction regulate structure and function of membrane receptors and their downstream effector proteins.
Venue
Seminar room D213
Institute for Biochemistry
Felix-Hausdorff-Str.4
17489 Greifswald
Organizer
Anett Stolte, RTG 1947 Coordinator