Speaker: Arshad Desai, professor at the University of California, San Diego, in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research 

Title: "Cell division: From C. elegans to a potential cancer therapeutic"

Abstract: I will present work addressing whether genetic changes associated with specific cancers create unique vulnerabilities in the cell division machinery.  The focus of the talk will be centrosomes, the cellular organelles that nucleate microtubules to build the mitotic spindle.  Starting with fundamental discoveries in the model organism C. elegans on how centrosomes are built, I will describe the development of a highly specific small molecule inhibitor of centrosome assembly in human cells. Use of this inhibitor has enabled identification of a cancer-specific genetic alteration that results in rapid lethality following inhibitor-induced centrosome loss. I will discuss the molecular mechanisms involved that underlie this sensitivity and also describe how the strategy we employed to develop this inhibitor can help address the challenge of engineering highly selective and potent small molecule agents.

Host: Moe Gupta, GDCB assistant professor

Please join us for refreshments before the seminar outside Room 1414 of the Molecular Biology Building.