Faculty-Mentored Journal Clubs in Biological Chemistry and Cell Regulation

Fall 2008 Biochemistry/Cell Regulation Journal Clubs

Current Topics in Pharmacology
Tuesdays; 8:30-9:30; ND7.218

This is a hot topics journal club where students will present papers relevant to the broad area of pharmacology that may come from many different disciplines. Each week a student will have the opportunity to pick a relevant high impact paper from the laboratory of one of the many seminar speakers that will be visiting our campus and presenting a seminar that same week (this includes speakers for ULS and all basic science departments). One to two weeks before class, each presenting student will submit a paper to the organizers for approval. The class is lively and spirited and all students are called upon to speak in class and give their opinion of the paper presented.

This journal club will explore basic concepts and mechanisms used by cells to carry out directed migration by eucaryotic cells and to detect and respond to chemical gradients.  Topics addressed will include: general principles, aspects of actin dynamics, lessons from D. Discoidium, pathways in chemotaxis and cell migration in cancer.  This will be accomplished  through discussion of a series of primary research papers and associated reviews (~ 13 sessions) that start with basic tenets laid out by Abercrombie and colleagues in the 1950s/60s and build to recent advances in the field.  Each student is expected to present background and lead discussion of a research paper.  All students are expected to attend each session, participate in discussions and critique 2 of the sessions.

We will discuss outstanding papers in cell, protein, and gene regulation.  Most of these papers describe research that earned Nobel prizes for the authors.  All of them have been enormously influential and, despite occasional (and sometimes violent) early resistance, have withstood the test of time.  A goal of this journal club is to explore how diverse research styles, e.g., brute force vs. elegant abstraction, have been employed to tackle fundamental questions in biology.  Whenever it is deemed  instructive, controversies and blunders will also be discussed.  Topics will include: Development of our current views of transcriptional regulation; Mechanisms of allosteric regulation of enzymes; Protein regulation by post-translational modifications; Energy production in cells; and others.

RNA plays a central role in the regulation of gene expression.  The mechanisms of RNA-mediated regulation are varied and have been the subject of many recent articles. This journal club will survey classic literature from the field and explore the latest findings about noncoding RNAs, RNAi, miRNAs, RNA-mediated epigenetic silencing, and therapeutic RNA.

This journal club will explore the roles and mechanisms of protein aggregations in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. This will be accomplished through discussions of a series of primary research papers and associated reviews (~ 12 sessions) that focus on the genesis and functions of beta-amyloid, polyglutamine tracks, and prion in Alzheimer’s disease, Poly-Q diseases, and Prion disease, respectively. It is hoped that these discussions will lead to a basic understanding of the general principles, recent advances, and unanswered questions concerning the underlying mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases. Each student is expected to present background and lead discussion of a research paper.  All students are expected to attend each session, participate in discussions and critique 2 of the sessions.

Obesity is responsible for billions of dollars of health care, and is only getting worse in industrialized countries. The journal club shall look at the cell biology of obesity, focusing on adipocytes. Topics will include biogenesis of lipid droplets, the endocrine nature of adipose tissue, the interaction of adipocytes with the extracellular matrix, and the role of adipose tissue in development of the metabolic syndrome and diabetes