How Cell Competition shapes tissue colonization and why it matters

Datum

17.01.2019

Zeit

11:00 - 12:00

Sprecher

Eugenia Piddini

Zugehörigkeit

University of Bristol, UK

Serie

MPI-CBG Thursday Seminar

Sprache

en

Hauptthema

Biologie

Andere Themen

Biologie

Host

Caren Norden

Beschreibung

Cell competition is a form of cell interaction that allows fitter cells (called ‘winners’) to kill less fit cells (called ‘losers’) and colonize tissues in their stead. The goal of the research we carry out in my group is to understand cell competition, its mechanism of action, and how it modulates cell colonization in tissues and organs. For our studies, we combine genetics and whole tissue in vivo studies in Drosophila with work using mammalian cultured cells, which together facilitate manipulation, live-cell imaging and translation of our findings to mammalian models. We are interested in the role that cell competition may have in tumour promotion. Indeed we have shown in Drosophila tumour models that tumour and host tissues in fact compete and that clearance of host cells is required for tumour growth. We are also interested in how cell competition could be used to boost tissue repopulation in regenerative medicine. To be able to manipulate cell competition it is essential to understand its mechanism of action and this too is an area of active investigation in my group. For example our group has discovered that mammalian cells in culture can compete using mechanical insults. We found that upregulation of p53 can lead cells to become hypersensitive to compaction and be killed by their fitter neighbours, through cell crowding. Since p53 is upregulated by a wealth of cellular stress conditions, our work suggests that mechanical cell competition may be a widespread mechanism to eliminate damaged cells from tissues. Related to this, I will present our recent unpublished work implicating p53 and mechanical cell competition in collective cell migration and wound healing in mammalian epithelia. If time allows I will also present our recent unpublished Drosophila work implicating proteotoxic stress in cell competition.

Letztmalig verändert: 18.01.2019, 01:09:36