17 February 2000
Dr. Pauline O'Grady
Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
"The Extracellular Matrix Molecule Laminin as a Ligand for the LAR Receptor
Tyrosine Phosphatase."
Contact: Tom Wileman
Abstract:
The expression of genes in cells is regulated by signal transduction pathways.
Signal transduction pathways in turn are modulated by cycles of tyrosine
phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, and these reactions are carried out by
kinases and phosphatases. LAR (Leukocyte Antigen Related molecule) was
discovered at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and has become a model
for a family of receptor tyrosine phosphatases expressed in many cell types.
The LAR protein has an extracellular domain which binds laminin, a component
of the extracellular matrix, and an intracellular domain with phosphatase
activity.
This talk will cover the role of laminin and LAR signalling during
modulation of cell adhesion, migration and cell survival.