The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Camilla Sjgren, Ph.D., professor, department of cell and molecular biology, Karolinska Institutet

Speaker bio(s)

The structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) protein complexes have a central role in genome stability, and influence replication, segregation, transcription and repair. Moreover, recent work suggests that the three eukaryotic SMC complexes cohesin, condensin and the Smc5/6 complex control the formation, maintenance and/or resolution of entanglements between the replicated chromosomes, known as sister chromatids. Although these structures obstruct chromosome segregation, they have also been proposed to have positive roles in genome dynamics.

 

Through their work on the SMC complexes, the Sjögren lab has found evidence that chromosomal association of Smc5/6 indicates the presence of entanglements between sister chromatids. This opens for a more precise analysis of these structures, which until now have been detected solely through their concatenating effect on plasmids and chromosomes. Sjögren’s new results indicate that chromatid entanglements form in cohesin-dense chromosomal regions in response to replication-induced DNA supercoiling. They also suggest that Smc5/6 acts together with topoisomerases in the resolution of both supercoils and chromatid entanglements. Together, this reveals a new connection between replication and segregation, mediated by the SMC complexes and changes in DNA topology. 

 

Dr. Sjögren received her Ph.D. from Stockholm University, Sweden, in 1997 and did postdoctoral research in Kim Nasmyth’s lab at the Research Institute for Molecular Pathology in Vienna, Austria. She joined The Karolinska Institute in 2002 and was appointed professor in 2010. Dr. Sjögren is a member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, and the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet.

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=3544