Ya Cheng Liao, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain
Columbia University
Host(s): Carol Mason (Faculty)
Messages on the Move: How mRNA Travel, Translate, and Transform the Neuron
Neurons need to make proteins at the right time and place to sense, respond, and adapt throughout life. Messenger RNAs (mRNA), the blueprints for protein synthesis, must be accurately located, translated, and degraded to ensure the accuracy of protein supply. Achieving this regulation is particularly challenging in neurons, where mRNAs operate across extreme spatial and temporal scales: they must locate at the synapses only micrometers wide, yet also travel through axons that can extend meters in length. Moreover, they need to respond to signals ranging from millisecond bursts of neuronal activity to chronic stress that accumulates over decades. In this talk, I will discuss how mRNAs navigate the complex geometry of neurons to travel long distances in neurons, sense neuronal activity at synapses, and translate fleeting electrical signals into lasting synaptic changes by coupling local translation with protein secretion. I will also highlight a surprising role of mRNA as a sensor of membrane damage, and how an ALS-associated protein exploits the RNA-based repair system to trigger uncontrolled translation and protein aggregation.
Relevant Publications:
COPII with ALG2 and ESCRTs control lysosome-dependent microautophagy of ER exit sites
Tuesdays@10 is a signature Zuckerman Institute initiative that aims to expose researchers at all levels to high-quality science and stimulate scientific discourse. The speakers featured in this series represent various fields and techniques in neuroscience, and include invited guests of the Columbia Neuroscience Seminars, the Zuckerman Institute's Local Circuits Affiliates Program, and other special seminar series through a combined, collaborative effort of one or more of the following: Columbia's Zuckerman Institute, the Center for Precision Psychiatry, the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, the Department of Neuroscience, the Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior and the Columbia Translational Neuroscience Initiative, and with support from the Kavli Institute for Brain Science.
More information and a full schedule can be found here.