时间：2019年11月14日（星期四）下午 15:00－16:30
地点：北京大学物理楼中212报告厅
题目（Title）： Seeing is believing: biophysics of protein granules enhances cancer signaling
摘要 (Abstract) ：
Through recent serendipitous discoveries, it is shown that certain proteins spontaneously form two phases in living cells: high concentration protein-rich granules and low concentration protein-depleted solution in the surroundings, an observation reminiscent of phase separation well characterized in physics. The advantages and limits of this analogy will be explored. I will show an intriguing discovery of how the physical state of certain proteins is both necessary and sufficient to promote a model case of cancer signaling. In stark contrast to the textbook view that signaling is mediated from the cell membrane, this novel cancer mechanism via protein phase separation serves as a paradigm shift in how we think of self-assembly mechanisms and biophysical impact of protein granules.
报告人 (Speaker)： 官 娟 教授
报告人简介 (About speaker)：
Dr. Guan did her Ph.D. at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, and her postdoctoral training at University of California San Francisco. She is joining University of Florida Physics as an Assistant Professor in January 2020. Her research interest is to understand physical mechanisms and dynamics in complex biological processes and soft condensed matter through a combination of high-throughput imaging, cell biology, and quantitative analysis tools. She pioneered the study of direct imaging of polymer dynamics at monomer level using bio-inspired polymers. Her work has provided novel insight into entangled polymer dynamics in equilibrium and driven transport and Fickian yet non-Gaussian processes in simple colloid systems. Dr. Guan has combined her quantitative imaging and cell biology background to study a variety of biological systems. She has developed a correlative imaging platform for multiplex genome imaging in living cells. Her most recent discovery of a surprising link between cancer and protein phase separation highlights how the self-assembly of biomaterials can have profound impact in biological systems.
联系人 (Host)： 罗春雄教授 pkuluocx@pku.edu.cn
凝聚态物理--北京大学论坛2019年第 24 期（No.474 since 2001）
