Topic: Biochemical Dissection of Innate Immunity
Subject: Ubiquitination and Immunity
Visiting Time: Nov 22 - 24, 2009

Abstract:

Raised in a remote village in southern China, Zhijian "James" Chen earned an undergraduate degree in biology from Fujian Normal University. He earned a Ph.D. at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Now, after spending some time in industry, he has returned to academia at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. There he studies ubiquitin, a small protein. Chen has uncovered an unexpected second function for ubiquitin. In the course of studying the NF-κB pathway—a central player in immune and inflammatory responses—he found that ubiquitin also activates protein kinases and is central to cytokine signaling, innate immunity, and adaptive immunity. Chen has identified the role of a number of components of the NF-κB cascade in connection with ubiquitin activity. Since that initial discovery, Chen has sought to understand the mechanisms and pathways of ubiquitin signaling, especially in regard to immunity and cancer.

Accumulating evidence strongly suggests that NF-κB activation by some members of the epidermal growth factor receptor family plays a crucial role in the development of human cancers, such as breast cancer. However, the mechanism by which these growth factor pathways activate NF-κB is poorly understood. Chen hopes to fill in the gaps in the understanding of NF-κB activation for both T cell receptor and growth factor receptor pathways. These studies have the potential to extend the role of ubiquitin signaling beyond inflammation and immunity, into the realm of growth control and cancer.

Futher Informatiom:　Zhijian 'James' Chen... 

Prof.Zhijian 'James' Chen(left) and Prof. Xinhua LIN(right)