2016

The Molecular Health Sciences Seminar "Dendritic Cell and Macrophage Biology: from Development to Functions" by Prof. Florent Ginhoux, Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), will take place on Monday, January 09, at 4:30 pm in HPL D32. Guest are very welcome!

The Molecular Health Sciences Seminar "Cellular senescence as a result of diverse genotoxic stresses and its role in tissue homeostasis" by Dr. Dimitris Kletsas, Research Director at the Laboratory of Cell Proliferation and Ageing, Institute of Biosciences and Applications, Athens, Greece, will take place on Thursday, January 12, at 2 pm in HPL J34. Guest are very welcome!

Bodak et al. report that murine Dicer is required for exit from pluripotency state of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). Moreover, in Dicer_knockout mESCs the pluripotency network is reinforced and there is a strong accumulation of LINE-1 mRNA and proteins, leading to an increased retrotransposition rate. Indeed, DICER is essential for stemness and genome integrity.

This study by Antsiferova et al. demonstrates that activin overexpression is an early event in murine and human skin tumorigenesis. We demonstrate that activin induces skin carcinogenesis via attraction and reprogramming of macrophages, and we identify novel activin targets involved in tumor formation.

The study by Gasser et al. identifies Foxa1 as an essential transcription factor for the development and functional maintenance of the subthalamic nucleus that has been implicated in the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's and Parkinson's disease.