The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

John Mekalanos, Ph.D., Adele Lehman Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and chair, department of microbiology and immunobiology, Harvard Medical School

Speaker bio(s)

Bacterial pathogenesis typically involves multiple factors that influence the infection process. The Type III and Type VI Secretion Systems (T3SS and T6SS) are nanomachines that deliver proteins called effectors into target cells. By defining biochemical activity of effectors one can reveal how these proteins might influence pathogenesis. The Mekalanos lab has found that both T3SS and T6SS influence actin homeostasis and intestinal colonization. Furthermore, emerging evidence suggest that T6SS effectors are antibacterial both in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that they may play a role in infection processes by eliminating competing members of the commensal microbiota. Other effectors also likely target the host innate immune system. For example, Dr. Mekalanos and his colleagues have discovered that the T3SS effector of Vibrio cholerae (called VopE), is localized to mitochondria during infection, where it interferes with the function of mitochondrial Rho GTPases Miro1 and Miro2 by acting as a specific GTPase-activating protein. Interference with the function of the Miro GTPases modulates mitochondrial dynamics and effectively blocks innate immune responses that presumably require mitochondria as signaling platforms. Thus, interference with mitochondrial dynamics may be an unappreciated strategy that pathogens utilize to block host innate responses that would otherwise lead to the control of bacterial infections.

 

Dr. Mekalanos received his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and did postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School before being appointed to its faculty in 1981. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the Harvard University Ledlie Prize, the Drexel Medicine Prize in Infectious Disease and the Sanofi-Institut Pasteur Award for Biomedical Research.

Open to

Public

Reception

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

Contact

Alena Powell

Phone

(212) 327-7745

Sponsor

Alena Powell
(212) 327-7745
apowell@rockefeller.edu

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=3550