Title: The immune challenges of stem cell therapy and tumor immunotherapy
Speaker: Prof. Yang Xu
Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University
Institute of Translational Medicine of Zhejiang University
Dr. Xu received his Bachelor’s degree from Wuhan University in 1989 and PhD degree in immunology from Harvard University in 1994. He completed his postdoctoral training at MIT under the guidance of Nobel Laureate David Baltimore. Dr. Xu joined the faculty of Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego in 1997 and became a tenured full professor in 2008. Dr. Xu is interested in stem cell biology and cancer biology. His group discovered the immunogenicity of induced pluripotent stem cells and the immune tolerance strategies for stem cell therapy. Dr. Xu has published over 100 papers in top journals such as Nature, Cell, Cancer Cell, Cell Stem Cell, Immunity, Nature Immunology, Nature Cell biology.
Title: Why redhaired individuals are so prone to developing melanoma?
Speakers: Prof. Rutao Cui
Qiushi Endowed Professor
Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University
The melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R), a G-protein-coupled receptor, has a crucial role in human and mouse pigmentation. Individuals carrying MC1R variants, especially those associated with red hair color, fair skin and poor tanning ability (denoted as RHC variants), are associated with higher risk of melanoma. We reported that MC1R controls UVB-induced G1- like cell cycle arrest and subsequent onset of premature senescence in melanocytes, abrogation of which contributes to melanoma development. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that WT-MC1R stabilized PTEN against proteolytic degradation under UV exposure, resulting in inhibition of AKT phosphorylation and activation after UV exposure.
