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The Department of Biomedicine

BBB seminar: Staffan Strömblad

Role of integrins in cell motility and survival

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Staffan Strömblad
Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden

Integrins are the major group of cell surface receptors for extracellular matrix proteins that governs many important cellular functions, including cell anchorage and motility as well as differentiation, cell proliferation and apoptosis, all of which mechanisms are critically involved in cancer progression. We study how the different functions of integrins are mediated within the cell, for example by proteins directly interacting with the integrin cytoplasmic domain or by integrin-mediated intracellular signaling pathways. We have identified several novel integrin interacting proteins that we study in more detail, including Myosin-X and PAK4. In addition, we are building a unique quantitative live cell imaging framework of analyses that will be mathematically integrated and form a systems biology approach to understand cell motility from the molecular to the systems level. Based on our findings of molecular mechanisms, we are also developing new potential cancer therapies.

Host: Donald Gullberg, Department of Biomedicine