Ellen Rothenberg - Choosing the T-Cell Profession: Higher Education for Stem Cells
All the blood cell types in the body are continuously regenerated by development from blood stem cells. T cells are among the most versatile of these stem cell descendants. Precursors become T cells under the influence of specific environmental signals, and the talk will introduce the intracellular molecules that interpret these signals and program the cells to enter the T-cell "profession."
The cells' path toward maturity is surprisingly beset with hesitations, alternatives, deathtraps, and possible avenues of escape, and a molecular tug-of-war underlies large parts of their progress. This talk will show how the developmental mechanism is revealed by approaches ranging from dynamic mapping of regulatory proteins in action at thousands of sites across the genome to movies of individual cells poised at decision points and then taking the critical step forward.
Ellen Rothenberg is the Albert Billings Ruddock Professor of Biology at Caltech.
This is a free event; no tickets or reservations are required.
Reserved section tickets are available to members of the Friends of Beckman Auditorium and the Caltech Associates.
Presented by: Caltech Committee on Institute Programs