News & Events
Publication by Kristin Seltmann et al.: Transport of CLCA2 to the nucleus by extracellular vesicles controls keratinocytes survival and migration.
Seltmann et al. discovered that the transmembrane protein CLCA2 is transported to the nucleus of keratinocytes via extracellular vesicles (EVs). Nuclear CLCA2 promotes expression of Wnt target genes and is required for the suppression of keratinocyte migration and for survival of these cells under hyperosmotic stress conditions.
Publication by Paul Hiebert et al.: A lysyl oxidase-responsive collagen peptide illuminates collagen remodeling in wound healing.
Hiebert et al. used a collagen peptide sensor to visualize lysyl oxidase-dependent collagen formation and remodeling during wound healing. The probe selectively detects newly produced or remodeling collagen, but not matured collagen fibers, and can be applied for in vivo wound imaging and for discerning differential remodeling in mice with altered collagen dynamics.
Seminar Announcement: "Cerebral organoids: Modelling human brain development and neurological disorders in 3D cell culture" by Jürgen Knoblich, Director IMBA, Vienna.
The orgaizing committee of the IMHS Seminar Series "The New Generation Scientists Invite" is pleased to invite you to the first Seminar held by Dr. Jürgen Knoblich, who pioneered organoid research and is the current director of the IMBA in Vienna. The Seminar will take place on Tuesday, 27.02.2024, at 10:30, in the seminar room HPM H33.
Publication by Lena Cords et al.: Cancer-associated fibroblast phenotypes are associated with patient outcome in non-small cell lung cancer.
Cords and colleagues report a spatial resolved single-cell imaging mass cytometry analysis of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cohort of 1’070 patients. Their data identify phenotypic and spatial features of CAFs that are associates with patient outcome in NSCLC.
Seminar Announcement: "The CompleX Story of How and Why to Turn a Chromosome OFF and ON Again", Prof. Bernhard Payer, 06.12.2023, 11:00, HPL D32.
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Payer, Centre of Genomic Regulation (CRB), Barcelona, Spain. Host: Prof. Anton Wutz.
Helmuth Gehart: Golden Owl
The ETH student association VSETH has recently awarded Prof. Helmuth Gehart with the Golden Owl for best teaching in the Department of Biology, ETH ZUrich, in 2023.
Publication by Nikolau et al.: Inflammation-induced TRIM21 represses hepatic steatosis by promoting the ubiquitination of lipogenic regulators.
Authors identify TRIM21 as a negative regulator of liver steatosis in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and provides mechanistic insights into an immunometabolic crosstalk that limits fatty acid synthesis and fructose metabolism during metabolic stress. Thus, providing new insights for therapeutic opportunity to treat NASH.
Labhart-Schwyzer Medaille for Markus Stoffel
Awarded to scientists who have made important scientific contributions in the area of Endocrinology. 08.11.2023
Seminar Announcement: "Oocytes generated in a dish: epigenetic insight and application to visualization of oogenesis" by Dr. Eishi Aizawa, 21.11.2023, 10:00, HPL D32.
Dr. Eishi Aizawa, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Kobe, Japan. Host: Prof. Anton Wutz.
Publication by Gurri et al.: NRF3 suppresses squamous carcinogenesis, involving the unfolded protein response regulator HSPA5.
Gurri et al. found that the NRF3 protein is downregulated or even absent in invasively growing cancer cells of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) patients. NRF3-deficient cancer cells showed enhanced malignancy due to the upregulation of the unfolded protein response regulator HSPA5, which was found as potential NRF3 interactor. Pharmacological inhibition or knock-down of HSPA5 rescued the malignant features of NRF3-deficient cells, suggesting HSPA5 as promising target for the treatment of NMSC.
Robert-Wenner Preis 2023 for Nicola Aceto
The swiss cancer league have awarded Prof. Nicola Aceto with the Robert-Wenner Prize, an award for young cancer researchers, for his research on cancer metastasis.
Seminar Announcement: "Macrophages, Matrix and Metazoan Parasites" by Prof. Judi Allen, 15.09.2023, 11:00, HPL D32.
Prof. Judi Allen, University of Manchester, UK. Hosts: Prof. Manfred Kopf and Prof. Sabine Werner.
Publication by Sänger et al.: Serine protease 35 regulates the fibroblast matrisome in response to hyperosmotic stress.
Sänger et al. found that hyperosmotic stress induces expression of serine protease 35 (PRSS35) in skin fibroblasts, affecting the extracellular matrix proteome and limiting cell proliferation. The in vivo relevance of these findings is reflected by the co-expression of PRSS35 and its binding partners in human skin wounds. The results identify PRSS35 as a key regulator of the matrisome under hyperosmotic stress conditions.
Publication by Kobiita et al.: FoxM1 coordinates cell division, protein synthesis, and mitochondrial activity in a subset of β cells during acute metabolic stress.
High-resolution temporal analysis of β-cells reveals a role of FoxM1 in protein synthesis and mitochondrial activity during metabolic stress.
Publication by Guccini et al.: Inhibition of ketohexokinase C isoform impairs the development of PDAC tumors.
Guccini et al. showed that ketohexokinase, the rate-limiting enzyme of fructose metabolism, is a driver of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) development.
Publication by Cord et al.: Cancer-associated fibroblast classification in single-cell and spatial proteomics data.
Using single-cell and spatial proteomics data, Cords and colleagues usuggest a novel classification system for cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) that can be used for the comparison of CAF types across cancer types and studies, contributing in inderstanding the functional role of this cell type.
Publication by Boontanrart et al.: Engineering of the endogenous HBD promoter increases HbA2.
Recently published eLife paper by the Corn group (IMHS) demonstrates that using CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing to insert transcription factor binding sites can increase transcriptional activity and expression of Hemoglobin A2.
Publication by Vatandaslar et al.: In vivo PAR-CLIP (viP-CLIP) of liver TIAL1 unveils targets regulating cholesterol synthesis and secretion.
Vatandaslar et al. establish a new viP-CLIP method to identify physiologically relevant RNA binding protein targets by finding a factor implicated in the negative feedback regulation of cholesterol biosynthesis.
Publication by Saini et al.: Resistance to mesenchymal reprogramming sustains clonal propagation in metastatic breast cancer.
Saini et al. showed that: EPCAM-high cells from metastatic biopsies can propagate breast cancer in vivo; resistance to EMT sustains tumorigenesis and metastatic spread of the human disease; irreversible EMT results in restrained tumorigenic potential in clonal subsets.
Publication by Slabber et al.: The ubiquitin ligase Uhrf2 is a master regulator of cholesterol biosynthesis and is essential for liver regeneration.
Slabber et al. identified the ubiquitin ligase Uhrf2 as a key target of fibroblast growth factor signaling in the regeneration liver and discovered an essential function of Uhrf2 in liver regeneration. Loss of Uhrf2 in hepatocytes increased the production of cholesterol through epigenetic regulation of cholesterol biosynthesis enzymes, resulting in the accumulation of toxic bile acids that caused liver failure after partial hepatectomy.