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John D. Wiley Seminar Series
Date: April 27, 2012
Time: Noon to 1:00 pm
Wange Lu, PhD
Title: "Molecular mechanisms of stem cell self-renewal and differentiation"
Speaker: Wange Lu, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry
Keck School of Medicine of USC
About the Talk: Self-renewal and differentiation of neural stem cells are regulated by extrinsic signaling in combination with intrinsic transcription and epigenetic factors. Our research focuses on the noncanonical Wnt receptor Ryk. We have demonstrated that that Ryk is cleaved at its transmembrane region in the differentiating neural stem cells and the intracellular domain (ICD) of Ryk moves to the nucleus during neuronal differentiation. Cleavage of Ryk and nuclear translocation of Ryk ICD is required for neuronal differentiation. Inducible expression Ryk ICD regulates expression of some master transcription factors that control neural differentiation. Using Mass spectrometry analysis, knockout mice analysis, and neural stem cell culture, we reveal how Ryk ICD is stabilized in the cytoplasm, how Ryk ICD moves to the nucleus, and how it regulates gene expression to induce neural differentiation.
About the Speaker: Dr. Wange Lu obtained his PhD from Harvard Medical School in 1998. His PhD research focused on signal transduction in cancer cells. He then moved on to do a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. David Baltimore, a Nobel Laureate, at California Institute of Technology. In the Baltimore lab, he began to study Neuroscience. Particularly, he identified a novel noncanonical Wnt signal transduction pathway in neurons where it plays a very important role in axon guidance and neurite outgrowth. In 2006, he moved to across town to the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California to set up his own lab. He extended his research to mechanisms of neural stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, iPS cell induction, and neurological diseases. He obtained numerous awards including John Douglas French Alzheimer's Disease Young Investigator award.
Where: John D. Wiley Conference Center, Room T216, Second Floor, North Tower
For Further Information: Contact Teresa Palumbo at 263-5837 or palumbo@waisman.wisc.edu
This Seminar Series is partially funded by the John D. Wiley Conference Center Fund, the Friends of the Waisman Center and NIH grant P30 HD003352.
