FENS Seminars – Prof. Ruth Nussinov
Prof. Ruth Nussinov (Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., National Cancer Institute Frederick, United States; Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel) will be the guest of KHAS Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences seminar with her speech “Emerging Mechanisms of Activation in Cancer and Their Linkage to Neurodevelopmental Disorders” on Friday, November 11 at 4 pm. The event will take place on Zoom and is open to anyone interested.
Zoom Link: https://bit.ly/3zPQAid
Abstract: Our challenging goal is to elucidate the K-Ras network, on the conformational and cellular levels. The first is vital for mechanistic insight and direct single or same allele drug combinations. The second is critical for insight into homeostatic mechanisms, including proteins acting via feedback control and their regulators, pathways bypassing the key proteins, and those complementing them. These are vital for companion drug combinations. We further ask what determines the strength of signaling. To date, the cellular requirements for the signal to propagate downstream to activate (repress) transcription have either not been considered or not resolved. Yet, signal propagation can point to cell proliferation including in drug resistance thus pivotal to clarify. At the NCI, we were exposed to the tantalizing critical question of the connection between cancer and NDDs. We address the puzzling questions of how same-gene mutations can drive both cancer and NDDs and why those with neurodevelopmental disorders have a higher risk of cancer.
About the Speaker: Dr. Ruth Nussinov is a senior investigator in the Laboratory of Cancer Immunometabolism, CCR, and a professor emeritus in the Department of Human Genetics, School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. She received her B.Sc. in microbiology from the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ). Her postdoctoral training included a fellowship at the Weizmann Institute, and two visiting scientist positions, one in the Chemistry Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and the other in the Biochemistry Department at Harvard University. Dr. Nussinov then joined the Medical School at Tel Aviv University in 1985 as an associate professor and in 1990 became a full professor. Her association with the NIH started in 1983, first with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and, since 1985, with the National Cancer Institute. At Tel Aviv University Dr. Nussinov directed a large group of graduate students at the Medical and Computer Science Schools in parallel to leading her research team at the NCI-CCR.