The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Maria Barna, Ph.D., assistant professor, department of developmental biology and department of genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine

Speaker bio(s)

The central dogma of molecular biology has for decades served as an explanation for the flow of genetic information within a biological system. Insofar as the normal flow of biological information is from mRNA to protein, the ribosome has been perceived to decode the genome with essentially machine-like precision, serving as an integral but largely passive participant in the synthesis of all effector proteins across all kingdoms of life. Dr. Barna’s research has changed this view, by demonstrating that not all of the millions of ribosomes within each cell are the same, and that ribosome heterogeneity provides a novel means to diversify the proteins that can be produced in specific cells, tissues, and organisms. Dr. Barna will present her laboratory’s work centered on providing a roadmap for the absolute quantification of ribosome composition at a single-cell level and during cellular differentiation that has identified subsets of ribosomes that are heterogeneous for core ribosomal proteins and interacting proteins.

 

To further address the functional role of ribosome heterogeneity in translational control of the mammalian genome, her laboratory employed CRISPR/Cas9 to endogenously tag and purify heterogeneous ribosome populations to characterize specific preferences in transcripts translated by distinct ribosome subtypes. This led to the identification of subpools of transcripts, critical for key cellular processes including cell signaling, metabolism, growth, proliferation, and survival, which are selectively translated by specific types of ribosomes. Dr. Barna will further present recent findings on the mechanisms by which ribosome-mediated control of gene expression is encoded by structured RNA regulons within 5′ UTRs. Together, these studies reveal a critical link between ribosome heterogeneity and specialized translational control of the mammalian genome, which adds an important layer of control to the posttranscriptional circuitry of gene regulation.

 

Dr. Barna received her B.A. from New York University and her Ph.D. from Cornell University, Weill Cornell Medicine. She completed her thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Lee Niswander in the developmental biology department at the Sloan Kettering Institute in 2007. Dr. Barna was subsequently appointed as a UCSF Fellow through the Sandler Fellows program, which enables exceptionally promising young scientists to establish independent research programs immediately following graduate school. She joined Stanford University as assistant professor in 2013.

 

Dr. Barna has received a number of distinctions including being named a Pew Scholar, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, and one of Cell Journal’s top “40 under 40.” She has also received the Basil O’Connor Scholar Research Award and the NIH Directors New Innovator Award. Earlier this year, she won both the Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award, which is given to two female scientists in the world every three years in the field of genetics, and the American Society for Cell Biology Emerging Leader Prize. She is presently an NYSCF Robertson Stem Cell Investigator.

Open to

Public

Host

Postdoctoral Researchers

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Justin Sloboda

Phone

(212) 327-7785

Sponsor

Justin Sloboda
(212) 327-7785
jsloboda@rockefeller.edu

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=4223