IMCB in-house seminars: autumn 2023

​In-house seminars of the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology of UT introduce the scientific research of the institute's various working groups in more detail. The seminars are open to everybody and, of course, in addition to the research staff of IMCB and neighboring institutes, students are also welcome.

The seminars take place over one week on Thursdays at 15:00 in the auditorium 105 of the Omicum building (address: Riia 23b/2, Tartu). The working language of the seminars is English. The length of the seminar presentation is 35-45 minutes. Additional 15 minutes have been allocated for questions and discussion. Hopefully, this will be followed by an informal session where the speakers will have more time to find answers to any question asked by seminar attenders. The seminars will not be streamed online or recorded.

Upcoming seminars:

Time: November 2, 15:00 Taltech Junior Professor in Neurochemistry Indrek Koppel (School of Science, Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology)

Title: „Neuron-glia interactions and cell type-specific proteomics“

Summary:

The nervous system consists of multiple cell types with distinct physiological specializations and gene expression patterns. In tissue, these cells form a complex, intertwined network that is subject to constant interaction between different cell types. This complexity poses a challenge for researchers in both separating cell types for analysis as well as studying interactions and information transfer between cells.One of our main research interests is studying protein synthesis in brain cells in a cell type-specific manner. To that end, we have developed a puromycin-based labeling method cell-selective tagging and isolation of proteins. Second, we study how GPCR-coupled signaling activation in glia affects gene expression in neurons, using genetic tools for cell type-specific pathway activation and mRNA analysis.

Past seminars:

Time: October 19, 15:00 Professor of Nanomedicine Tambet Teesalu (Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine)

Title: "Homing peptides for targeting of drugs and nanoparticles"

Summary:

I will discuss of our work on application of systemic homing peptides for precision delivery of drugs, imaging agents and nanoparticles.

We use in vivo peptide phage display screens to identify homing peptides that bind to specific targets in the vasculature. Corresponding synthetic peptides are explored for targeting drugs, biologicals, and nanoparticles into tumors to increase their therapeutic index. I will discuss our preclinical and clinical efforts on development of peptide-guided diagnostic agents and therapeutics for the early detection and precision treatment of solid tumors (glioblastoma, and breast, prostate, ovarian, prostate, and colorectal carcinoma), and for precision targeting of neurological diseases.

Finally, I will provide a practical guidelines for rapid selection of homing peptides for targeting sites of disease using in vivo playoff technique.

Information will be updated on an ongoing basis.

Previous seminars (2023 spring seminars)