Deconstructing the principles of cellular hierarchy in tumors with a developmental origin

Abstract: Pediatric cancers are different from adult cancers in that they carry much fewer genetic lesions but are able to progress extremely rapidly. In addition, brain cancers are over-represented in children. Recent data has demonstrated that pediatric brain cancers often originate during embryonic and fatal stages, and aberrantly recapitulate sub-parts of developmental programs. It has been proposed that such tumors are « locked » into perpetual development. Yet it is often unclear why these developmental programs become mis-regulated during the course of development and how they are coopted to promote tumorigenesis. We are addressing these questions using a Drosophila model of neural tumors with a developmental origin, resembling in many aspect pediatric cancers in human. Our work has identified the coopted developmental program that sustains tumor growth and has deciphered their hierarchical cellular organization. During my talk, I will present our recent finding that epigenetic regulators of the PRC2 and MLL1/2-COMPASS complexes regulate this hierarchy, and how their inactivation can trigger plasticity and cancer stem cell heterogeneity.

biochemistrycancer biologychemical biologycell biologydevelopmental biologydrug discoveryevolutiongeneticsimmunologymolecular biologymicrobiologyneuroscienceplant sciencessystems biologybiotechnologybiological techniquesbiophysics

Audience: researchers in the discipline

( video )

Colloquium zooming Molecular & Cellular Biology LUMS

Series comments: Zooming Molecular & Cellular Biology Colloquium was initiated on July 28th, 2020 by the Biology department at Syed Babar Ali School of Science & Engineering (SBASSE), Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). The series follows through various topics which come under the ambit of Molecular and Cellular Biology and we’ve had the pleasure and honor of hosting some of the most knowledgeable scientists from around the globe. Organizers can be reached out at 24100162@lums.edu.pk or 24100001@lums.edu.pk for the Zoom link of individual talks. All lectures are LIVE streamed on SBASSE's official Facebook page.