Abstract
The genetic information of eukaryotic cells is enclosed within a double-layered nuclear envelope, which comprises an inner and outer nuclear membrane. Among the transmembrane proteins located in the nuclear envelope, two integral protein complexes span the nuclear envelope and connect the inside of the nucleus to the cytoplasm. The nuclear pore complex (NPC) acts as an exclusive gateway for molecular traffic into and out of the nucleus, while the LINC (linker of the nucleus and cytoskeleton) complex physically bridges the nucleoskeleton and the cytoskeleton. By providing chemical and mechanical linkages across the nuclear envelope, these two important complexes, the NPC and the LINC, are believed to play an important role in cell and nuclear mechanotransduction. While the LINC complex is the physical connector of the cytoskeleton to the nucleus, exquisite nanopores called nuclear pore complex (NPC) act as the sole gateway for bidirectional transport of vital cargos, ranging from different functional proteins and transcription factors to RNAs and ribosomes, between the cytoplasm and the nucleus in eukaryotic cells. In this talk, I will discuss recent discoveries in relation to the LINC and NPC protein complexes and their emerging roles in establishment and regulation of nuclear mechanotransduction.
About the Speaker
Mohammad R. K. Mofrad is a professor of Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering at the University of California Berkeley. He completed his undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran, before moving to Canada where he received his M.A.Sc. and Ph.D degrees from the Universities of Waterloo and Toronto, respectively. After post-doctoral work in Computer Science (at the University of Toronto) and in Bioengineering (jointly at MIT and Harvard Medical School), he joined the Berkeley faculty in 2005. Prof. Mofrad’s research program (URL: biomechanics.berkeley.edu) harnesses the power of theoretical and computational modelling approaches, ranging from molecular biomechanics and bioinformatics to machine learning and neural networks, towards understanding cell mechanobiology and human diseases. He received a National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2010 and an American Heart Association (AHA) Innovative Research award in 2016. Dr. Mofrad is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
Host: Professor Taher Saif
* Times, dates, and titles are subject to change. Check mechanical.illinois.edu for updated information.
This seminar counts toward the requirements for ME 590 and TAM 500.
