CCBIO Seminar - Gaoxiang Ge

Speaker:  Gaoxiang Ge, Shanghai institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

Dr. Gaoxiang Ge is a principal investigator at the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the vice director of the State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology. The main research interest of Dr. Gaoxiang Ge's laboratory is to understand the cross-talk between cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) microenvironment in tissue homeostasis, and how deregulated cell-ECM crosstalk drives disease emergence and progression.

Title: "Extracellular Matrix Remodeling in Tissue Homeostasis and Diseases"

Abstract:

Extracellular matrix (ECM), an important component of cell microenvironment, is not only structural scaffold, but also signaling hub in dictating characteristics of the cell. The importance of ECM microenvironment in cancer and metabolic diseases is becoming much more recognized. Disordered ECM remodeling, a hallmark of solid tumors, promotes tumor progression and metastasis. ECM not only regulates cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion, but also modulates angiogenesis and inflammatory response in the tumor microenvironment. ECM is a complex network that is composed of many highly homologous and structurally similar matrix proteins. Structurally similar collagen IV subtypes exert tumor promoting functions by activating distinct intracellular signaling through different cell surface receptors. ECM is an important regulator in metabolic processes. Collagen V is essential to mobilization of GLUT4 transporter to the plasma membrane and glucose uptake in response to insulin. ECM also modulates the differentiation of adipocytes. FSP1+ fibroblasts are niche for preadipocytes in the SVF, and essential to adipose homeostasis. Alterations in the FSP1-positive fibroblasts result in decreased PDGF expression, which not only maintains preadipocyte pool in the SVF, but also regulates adipogenic potential of preadipocytes by regulating collagen matrix remodeling.

Chairperson: Donald Gullberg, CCBIO

The CCBIO Seminar series fulfills several aims.

• Firstly, it conveys relevant biomarker research to the local scientific community and students and younger researchers in particular, providing the ground for future recruitment.
• Secondly, it is part of two formal courses, BMED 380 on the master level, and together with the CCBIO Annual Symposium, forms CCBIO 902, a PhD level course.
• Last, but not least, the CCBIO seminars with their subsequent open pizza get-together are an important arena for informal interaction between international researchers, CCBIO PIs and other CCBIO staff as well as interested researchers and students in general.

All interested researchers, students and others are welcome!