Guest Speaker: Kausik Si

DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR SERIES

Encoding memory in protein conformation

Kausik Si, PhD

Stowers Institute for Medical Research

University of Kansas, USA

Host: Dr. Howard Lipshitz

For over a century, amyloids have been associated with pathology of the nervous system and thought to be an unintended byproduct of protein mismanagement, an irreversible dead-end for a protein. We were thus surprised to find, while seeking to understand how memories withstand time, that certain amyloids are involved in stabilizing memory. The discovery of functional amyloids in the brain forced us to rethink long-standing assumptions on how and why amyloids are formed. We have now identified additional amyloids involved in determining cell fate or controlling embryonic patterning. These amyloids have given us access to areas, such as what structural features make amyloids regulatable, how cells assemble amyloids in a controlled way, and once formed, how cells remove amyloids when needed.

Date: June 05, 2023

Time: 3:00 PM EST

Location: MSB 4171 or via Zoom:

Meeting ID: 969 4347 3328

Passcode: 205709