Please join us for our webinar on the 17th November 15.00–16.00 at which the Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre is pleased to host Dr Philipp Thomas and Dr Jörg Mansfeld .
In this series of webinars brought to you by the Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre at Imperial College London and The Institute of Cancer Research, London, researchers across the two organisations will discuss key challenges facing cancer research and opportunities for new convergence science approaches to address these. Join us to consider how novel approaches and technologies could shed light on unresolved problems in cancer biology, to innovate new ways to address challenges in cancer and bring pioneering treatments to cancer patients faster.
The series aims to support the Centre's mission to facilitate collaboration between traditionally separate and distinct disciplines. Exceptionally, this webinar will be hosted by Dr Alexis Barr (MRC LMS, Imperial College London).
Please join us online on Thursday 17th November , from 15.00-16.00, for a talk from:
Dr Philipp Thomas – Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London
“Noise patterns in cell division”
The time taken for cells to complete a round of cell division is a stochastic process controlled, in part, by intracellular factors. These factors can be inherited across cellular generations, giving rise to, often non-intuitive, correlation patterns in cell cycle timing. Here, we formulate a Bayesian framework of hidden inherited factors affecting the cell cycle to reveal distinct interdivision time correlation patterns. Using single-cell datasets of bacteria, mammalian and cancer cells, we observe that the inferred patterns reveal interpretable inheritance dynamics and often hidden circadian rhythmicity of cell cycle factors. I will show that identifying these factors is crucial to understand cellular responses to stress and drugs.
Dr Philipp Thomas is a Lecturer in Biomathematics and holds a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. Previously he was a fellow for the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. He received a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Edinburgh in 2015. He is also an associate editor for Scientific Reports and the Biophysics section in Frontiers.
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Dr Jörg Mansfeld – Division of Cancer Biology, The Institute of Cancer Research
“Defining molecular principles of cell cycle control for rational lead development”
The decision to proliferate or not to proliferate is largely controlled by two post-translational modifications, phosphorylation and ubiquitylation. Both act in concert to ensure that DNA replication and chromosome segregation occur at the right time and remain error free. Not surprisingly, the responsible cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and ubiquitin E3 ligases are prime targets for cancer therapy. They remain, however, due to either too common catalytic sites in the former case and large shallow interaction surfaces in the latter case difficult to specifically inhibit by drugs. Focussing on the S-phase kinase CDK2 and the mitotic Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome, I will highlight how we exploit our mechanistic insights into their activity regulation for structure-guided rational lead development.
Dr Jörg Mansfeld is a Team Leader in the Cancer Biology Division at the Institute of Cancer Research London (ICR). He started his own laboratory in 2013 at the Biotec Institute of the Technical University Dresden, Germany, initially focusing on cell cycle regulation by the ubiquitin system. Prompted by observations that ubiquitin enzymes often become oxidised and supported by an ERC Starters grant he began investigating how protein oxidation by reactive oxygen species control the cell cycle and proliferation. In 2020, Jörg’s lab moved to ICR to expand this direction of research in an environment with extensive expertise in cancer biology and drug development.
To receive information about how to access this event please email icr-imperial-convergence.centre@imperial.ac.uk
Please note: This webinar is exclusively available only to colleagues across the Institute of Cancer Research, Imperial College London, the Royal Marsden Hospital and Imperial College Healthcare.
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