GUEST SPEAKER - Professor Giampietro Schiavo, Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL-Institute of Neurology : ‘Basal lamina components as determinants of the uptake and axonal transport of pathogens and growth factors’

Tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT) is amongst the most poisonous substances on Earth and a major cause of neonatal death in non-vaccinated areas. Its very high toxicity is due to an exquisite tropism for the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) and its routing to the axonal transport pathway followed by transcytosis to spinal inhibitory interneurons, which causes a persistent spastic paralysis.

TeNT targets the NMJ with high affinity, yet the nature of the TeNT receptor complex was still lacking. We showed that nidogens are the main determinant for TeNT binding at the NMJ and it targets TeNT (as well as other physiological ligands) for sorting to axonal transport organelles. Understanding this mechanism is therefore crucial to better understand ligand sorting at the NMJ and uncovers novel means for tetanus control.

Date: 16 June 2017, 13:00 (Friday, 8th week, Trinity 2017)
Venue:
Sherrington Building
off Parks Road OX1 3PT
See location on maps.ox

Details: DPAG, Large Lecture Theatre, Sherrington Building, off South Parks and Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PT - 01865 272500
Speaker: Professor Giampietro Schiavo (Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL-Institute of Neurology)
Organising department: Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)
Organiser: Sarah Noujaim (University of Oxford, Department of Physiology Anatomy and Genetics)
Host: Professor Zoltan Molnar (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Part of: DPAG Head of Department Seminar Series
Topics:
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
This talk features in the following public collections:
- Immunology, infection and inflammation seminars
Editor: Sarah Noujaim