Student Invited Lecture Series (chemical biology): Alanna Schepartz, Yale University
<p>Alanna Schepartz<br />Department of Chemistry<br />Yale University</p>
<p><strong>Decoding information transfer through the plasma membrane with small molecules</strong></p>
<p>Aberrant activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is critical to the biology of many common cancers. Ligands such as the epidermal growth factor (EGF) bind to the extracellular domain of EGFR and alter signaling outcomes inside the cell. Despite decades of research, the molecular events that define how EGFR transmits an extracellular ligand binding event through the membrane into the cytosol are not well understood. Using a chemical tool developed at Yale, bipartite tetracysteine display, we discovered that EGF binding results in formation of an antiparallel coiled coil within the intracellular juxtamembrane (JM) domain of EGFR that is essential for receptor activation, whereas TGFα leads to formation of a discrete and alternative helical interface. Our findings identify how the JM domain decodes and transmits distinct extracellular signals to the cell interior, and provide new insight into how helical membrane proteins can communicate ligand-specific information through the cell membrane.</p>
Frick Chemistry Laboratory, Taylor Auditorium  ·  4:30 p.m.– 6:00 p.m.