On Friday, October 17 (at 12 noon) Dr. James Woodgett, Director of Research & Senior Investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, will present, "Genetic analysis of an over-achieving protein kinase (GSK-3) and what it reveals about cellular communication." The talk will be held in 101 Cunningham Hall, the main lecture. This is a joint colloquium hosted by the ֱ State University Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Department of Biological Sciences.
Abstract: The keys to cellular controls are held by a remarkably limited number of signaling pathways (less than 20) that are responsible for responses to a huge variety of external cues. Moreover, several of these pathways have common components raising questions of signal fidelity and specificity. Perhaps the most “promiscuous” signaling protein is a protein kinase termed glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) which lies downstream of the Wnt, Notch, Hedgehog, cyclic AMP, phosphatidylinositol 3’kinase and other pathways. The kinase is also implicated in diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimers, bipolar disorder and several cancers. We have characterized mouse models with total or tissue-specific inactivation of the two mammalian alleles of GSK-3. In this talk, I will describe several genetic models analysed to date and new insights into normal control and disease that relate to how signaling is far more integrated and robust than our simple pathway maps portray.