Dear All

after the summer break, it is time to resume the Nencki Institute Seminars.

Next Thursday, September the 30^th, at 3pm, dr Lidia Wrobel from the Department of Medical Genetics (Cambridge Institute for Medical Research) and the UK Dementia Research Institute (University of Cambridge) will give a lecture entitled: The role of VCP/p97 in autophagy regulation.

Abstract:

Autophagy is a highly conserved intracytoplasmic degradation pathway protecting cell from damage and promoting survival. The main function of autophagy is to provide nutrients during physiological fasting conditions and to prevent the accumulation of harmful cytosolic content, such as protein aggregates or damaged organelles. Autophagy is critical for the degradation of aggregate-prone proteins that cause neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s disease, mutant alpha-synuclein (forms of Parkinson’s disease), and tau. Impairment of the autophagy pathway was shown to enhance neurodegeneration and conversely stimulating autophagy increases the clearance of toxic protein aggregates and therefore is a promising therapeutic strategy for preventing neurodegeneration in various diseases.

In our recent study, we have identified the essential protein VCP/p97 as a novel regulator of autophagosome biogenesis illustrating an important and previously unknown role for VCP in early autophagy initiation.

We will use zoom, here is the information:

Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/98222231110?pwd=Uyt6Q29BaGlLSXBsUnJRQnpWc0pJZz09

Meeting ID: 982 2223 1110

Passcode: 795926

Best regards,

Aleksandra Pekowska