Events Calendar

USC PSOC Monthly Seminar Series

Speaker: Denis Wirtz, Ph.D., Theophilus H. Smoot Professor, Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Oncology, John Hopkins University

Talk Title: Cancer Cell Migration in 3D

Abstract: Two-dimensional (2D) in vitro culture systems have for a number of years provided a controlled and versatile environment for the study of cell adhesion and migration, two interrelated cell functions critical to cancer metastasis. However, the organization and functions of focal adhesion proteins in cells embedded in physiologically more relevant 3D matrices is qualitatively and functionally different from their organization and functions on conventional 2D planar substrates. In a 3D, cross-linked, fibrillar collagen matrix, cell migration and protrusion activity are still regulated by focal adhesion proteins, such as p130Cas, FAK, Zyxin, Vinculin, Talin, and VASP, but differently from the 2D case. This talk will describe the implications of the dependence of focal adhesion protein-based cellular functions on microenvironmental dimensionality in cancer. We will discuss the implications of this work in cancer metastasis.


Biography: About the USC Physical Sciences in Oncology Center Monthly Seminar Series

USC was selected to establish a $16 million cancer research center as part of a new strategy against the disease by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and its National Cancer Institute. The new center is one of 12 in the nation to receive the designation. During the five-year initiative, the Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers will take new, nontraditional approaches to cancer research by studying the physical laws and principles of cancer; evolution and the evolutionary theory of cancer; information coding, decoding, transfer and translation in cancer; and ways to de-convolute cancer’s complexity. As part of the outreach component of this grant, the Center for Applied Molecular Medicine is hosting a monthly seminar series.



Host: Center for Applied Molecular Medicine

Location: Clinical Science Center (CSC) - Harkness Auditorium

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Kristina Gerber