| External Faculty Speaker | Friday, 29 November 2019, 11:00Add to calendarWhen the weakest wins: ecology and diversity in oncogenesis. Kristina Havas Cavalletti, IFOM, Milan, ItalyHost: Phil Avner / Matthieu BoulardCNR Seminar Room, EMBL Rome Abstract: My main research interest lies in understanding the mechanisms behind breast cancer progression.
Today I will present two brief vignettes of our work on two key aspects contributing to breast cancer
progression; our efforts to decipher the rules governing clonal cooperation, and our investigation into
the biophysical and metabolic consequences of lipid droplet accumulation.
It is becoming increasingly clear that clonal cooperation, or at the very least, subclonal diversity is
a contributor to tumor establishment and progression. Despite this, we have yet to answer the
question: how does such diversity emerge and persist? A purely Darwinian evolution would predict the final emergence of a single clone. So, perhaps it is time that expand our way of thinking about the process of tumorigenesis away from Dobzhansky s nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution towards the more inclusive nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of ecology. Ecology refers to the relationships(interactions) between various species and their surrounding environment. We know that the tumor interacts with the local micro-environment. But
could the observed intra-tumoral heterogeneity be stabilized through interactions? Ecological cooperation between diverse subclones is not inevitable, cooperation or even co-existence between selfish individuals is rare, and fragile, so what are the forces that drive their evolution, and if they do exist, can we identify the types of interactions that sustain diversity? I will discuss our efforts to decipher these interactions in a breast cancer model.
Eradicating most disseminated tumors, may be impossible. The implications of this in breast cancer is that the seed for tumor recurrence may escape therapeutic interventions. In order to successfully target these populations (or prevent them) we need to understand the mechanisms of therapeutic escape. Over the past five years numerous reports have emerged suggesting that metabolic alterations, specifically in lipid metabolism, correlate with therapeutic resistance. Metabolism is largely studied on a population level, this stimulated us to ask whether metabolic hallmarks of singular populations could play a role in determining their response to therapeutic challenge. Following up on our previous studies we have focused on the population of cells characterized by high levels of lipid droplets. Lipid droplets have long been considered to function as a primary store of energy but several recent reports have begun to highlight their role in a diverse range of cellular functions including ER stress, ROS detoxification and protein dynamics. I will discuss our recent data that demonstrates that lipid droplets confer stem-like properties upon the cell, and our characterization of the biophysical and metabolic
consequences of lipid droplet accumulation. |
| Career Day | Friday, 6 December 2019, 11:00Add to calendarStrategy Consulting - Understanding the GameKonstantina Rowald, Biosova, Heroldsberg, Germany, GermanyHost: Santiago RompaniCNR Seminar Room, EMBL Rome |
| Career Day | Friday, 6 December 2019, 11:00Add to calendarHow to find work that you loveEmmy Tsang, eLife Sciences Publications Ltd, Cambridge, UK, United KingdomHost: Santiago RompaniCNR Seminar Room, EMBL Rome |
| Career Day | Friday, 6 December 2019, 11:00Add to calendarCareer in industry: a biotech perspectiveLina Vasiliauskaite , STORM Therapeutics Ltd, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK, United KingdomHost: Santiago RompaniCNR Seminar Room, EMBL Rome |
| External Faculty Speaker | Tuesday, 10 December 2019, 11:00Add to calendarEpi-Evo: insight into epigenetic mechanisms through evolutionary analysesPeter Sarkies, MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences , London, UK, United KingdomHost: Jamie HackettCNR Seminar Room, EMBL Rome Abstract: Epigenetic gene regulation is fundamental for development of multicellular organisms, hence the deep conservation of many of the molecular pathways involved. However, despite their ancient origin, many epigenetic pathways evolve surprisingly rapidly, including repeated losses in many independent metazoan lineages. Interestingly, similar diversification of epigenetic mechanisms occurs in cancer. We are interested in understanding how epigenetic mechanisms evolve across species and identifying the factors that drive repeated loss of epigenetic gene regulatory pathways. Focusing on our recent work studying the evolution of DNA methylation across eukaryotes I will demonstrate how this approach allows us to obtain new insights into why epigenetic mechanisms are perturbed in cancer cell evolution.
|
| External Faculty Speaker | Friday, 13 December 2019, 11:00Add to calendarTo be announcedAlexandra Pacureanu, 1ESRF, The European Synchrotron, Grenoble, FranceHost: Cornelius GrossCNR Seminar Room, EMBL Rome |
| External Faculty Speaker | Friday, 17 January 2020, 11:00Add to calendarTo be announcedGiandomenico Ianetti, IIT - Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Roma, ItalyHost: Cornelius GrossCNR Seminar Room, EMBL Rome |
| EMBL - Sapienza Lecture | Friday, 31 January 2020, 11:00Add to calendarTo be announcedOliver Rando, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MASS, USA, USAHost: Matthieu Boulard / Irene BozzoniSapienza Università di Roma - Aula Odeion - Museo dell'Arte Classica - P.le Aldo Moro, 5 - Roma, EMBL Rome |
| EMBL Distinguished Visitor Lecture | Friday, 6 March 2020, 10:00Add to calendarTo be announcedAlexander Borst, Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany, GermanyHost: Hiroki AsariCNR Seminar Room, EMBL Rome |
| EMBL Distinguished Visitor Lecture | Friday, 3 April 2020, 10:00Add to calendarTo be announcedDirk Schübeler, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland, SwitzerlandHost: Mathieu BoulardCNR Seminar Room, EMBL Rome |
| EMBL - Sapienza Lecture | Friday, 24 April 2020, 11:00Add to calendarTo be announcedClaire Wyart, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epiniere CHU, Paris, France, , FranceHost: Cornelius GrossSapienza Università di Roma - Aula Odeion - Museo dell'Arte Classica - P.le Aldo Moro, 5 - Roma, EMBL Rome |
| EMBL Distinguished Visitor Lecture | Friday, 15 May 2020, 10:00Add to calendarWhat Art can tell us about the BrainMargaret Livingstone, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA, , USAHost: Santiago Rompani CNR Seminar Room, EMBL Rome Abstract: Artists have been doing experiments on vision longer than neurobiologists. Some major works of art have provided insights as to how we see; some of these insights are so fundamental that they can be understood in terms of the underlying neurobiology. For example, artists have long realized that color and luminance can play independent roles in visual perception. Picasso said, "Colors are only symbols. Reality is to be found in luminance alone." This observation has a parallel in the functional subdivision of our visual systems, where color and luminance are processed by the evolutionarily newer, primate-specific What system, and the older, colorblind, Where (or How) system. Many techniques developed over the centuries by artists can be understood in terms of the parallel organization of our visual systems. I will explore how the segregation of color and luminance processing are the basis for why some Impressionist paintings seem to shimmer, why some op art paintings seem to move, some principles of Matisse's use of color, and how the Impressionists painted "air". Central and peripheral vision are distinct, and I will show how the differences in resolution across our visual field make the Mona Lisa's smile elusive, and produce a dynamic illusion in Pointillist paintings, Chuck Close paintings, and photomosaics. I will explore how artists have figured out important features about how our brains extract relevant information about faces and objects, and I will discuss why learning disabilities may be associated with artistic talent.
|
| EMBL - Sapienza Lecture | Friday, 29 May 2020, 11:00Add to calendarTo be announcedJernej Ule , Crick Institute, London, UK, United KingdomHost: Matthieu Boulard / Irene BozzoniSapienza Università di Roma - Aula Odeion - Museo dell'Arte Classica - P.le Aldo Moro, 5 - Roma, EMBL Rome |
| EMBL Distinguished Visitor Lecture | Friday, 18 September 2020, 10:00Add to calendarDNA methylation in development and disease.Alexander Meissner, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, GermanyHost: Jamie HackettCNR Seminar Room, EMBL Rome |
| EMBL - Sapienza Lecture | Friday, 2 October 2020, 11:00Add to calendarTo be announcedTracy L. Bale, Center for Epigenetic Research in Child Health and Brain Development, University of Maryland School of Medicine, USAHost: Cornelius Gross / Andrea MeleSapienza Università di Roma - Aula Odeion - Museo dell'Arte Classica - P.le Aldo Moro, 5 - Roma, EMBL Rome |
