41st SDBC Meeting

Date of next meeting: 23 May 2012 (Wednesday)

Venue: Aspiration Theatrette, Level 2M, Matrix Building, 30 Biopolis Street

Time: 5.45pm - 6.45pm

Dr. Karuna Sampath

Senior Principal Investigator
Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, Singapore

Seminar Title: "Piecing together the squint puzzle." 

PIN codes and ZIP codes provide positional information in addresses, which facilitates efficient transfer of mail by the Postal services, pizza delivery to your home, and also helps taxis find their way to where you want them. Similarly, cells also use codes to facilitate transport of various macromolecules to specific locations within the cell. For ribonucleic acids (RNA) which is one of the major
macromolecules in cells, the composition, order and arrangement of individual nucleotide bases that comprise it make a code that determines where and how it is transported within the cell. Understanding and identifying the codes that determine where and how
various RNAs are transported can help determine how these important molecules perform their function in the cell. 

The aim of our work is to understand how the cell sorts some of these RNAs, and puts them in the correct location, such that they can perform their function. We have identified a code that facilitates transport of one such RNA to a particular location in the egg, which will become the head and back regions of the zebrafish. In the absence of this code or by
scrambling the code, the transport process goes awry and the RNA is incorrectly distributed, leading to deregulated expression of this RNA, and which has severe consequences to early zebrafish embryogenesis. I will discuss our recent efforts at understanding the precise mechanisms and functions of the localization of this molecule and its role in formation of various structures in the early embryo.

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All are welcome to attend this meeting. No registration required.