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GEE Seminar - Dr Della David, Babraham Institute
25 January 2023, 12:00 pm–1:00 pm
Title: 'Towards healthy ageing: Investigating the regulation of protein aggregation'
Event Information
Open to
- UCL staff | UCL students | UCL alumni
Availability
- Yes
Organiser
-
Amy Godfrey
Location
-
G08Roberts Building---
Academic Host:John Labbadia
Abstract: Accumulation of protein aggregates is an inherent part of normal ageing in numerous organisms. Protein aggregation with age affects the proteome of different tissues, cellular compartments as well as in the extracellular space. Age-dependent protein aggregates contribute to functional decline and thus are prime targets in the search of strategies to promote healthy ageing. We have discovered novel mechanisms to prevent protein aggregation both inside and outside cells in C. elegans. We show that impaired protein quality control triggers an additional layer of protection against protein aggregation in a tissue-specific manner. This safety mechanism limits aggregate formation and toxicity by relying on components of the host’s response to obligate intracellular pathogens and lysosomal-dependent degradation of aggregation-prone proteins. Independently, we identified the extracellular proteostasis network in C. elegans that protects against extracellular protein aggregation. Promoting extracellular proteostasis can prolong lifespan. Notably, extracellular proteostasis components are up-regulated during the innate immune response to enhance survival. Together this work reveals mechanisms used by the organism to protect its proteome against aggregation and highlights intriguing connections with the response to pathogens.
About the Speaker
Dr Della David
Senior Group Leader at Babraham Institute
Della David is a senior group leader at the Babraham Institute. After studies in France at the European School of Biotechnology, she moved to Switzerland and obtained her PhD in 2005 from the University of Zürich working on a mouse model for tau protein aggregation. For her postdoctoral work (2006-2011), she joined the lab of Cynthia Kenyon at UCSF in the USA, supported with funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation, Larry L. Hillblom Foundation, American Federation for Aging Research and Program for Breakthrough Biomedical Research. In Cynthia’s lab, she started working with the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans and she discovered that widespread protein aggregation occurs during normal ageing. Between 2011 and 2021, she led an independent research group in Germany at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Tübingen and then at the Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry, University of Tübingen. In 2022, Della relocated her lab to the Babraham Institute. Her group continues to focus on age-dependent protein aggregation with the aim of uncovering endogenous mechanisms to prevent aggregation and promote healthy ageing. A key recent study of her group characterised the extracellular proteostasis network in C. elegans. The group’s research at the Babraham Institute is supported by a Wellcome Discovery Award and a Longevity Impetus Grant.
More about Dr Della David