ChemBio Seminar by Prof. Arnaud Gautier (Sorbonne Université, France)
Event details
| Date | 15.04.2025 |
| Hour | 16:00 › 17:00 |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Title: Controlling cell function through fluorogenic chemically induced dimerization
Speaker: Arnaud Gautier is Professor of Chemistry at Sorbonne University in Paris (France) and head of the team Chemogenetics for observing and controlling cell functions, co-affiliated to the research unit ‘Chimie Physique et Chimie du Vivant’ (affiliated to Sorbonne University, École Normale Supérieure and CNRS) and the research unit ‘Chemical Biology of Cancer’ (affiliated to Institut Curie, INSERM and CNRS). He studied chemistry at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, where he received a PhD in chemistry in 2005. In 2006, he joined the group of Kai Johnsson at the École Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne where he developed methods for labeling proteins in living cells. In 2009, he joined the group of Jason W. Chin at the MRC laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, where he worked on the expansion of the genetic code of mammalian cells. Arnaud Gautier was Assistant Professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure from 2010 to 2019, before joining Sorbonne University in 2019 as Full Professor. Arnaud Gautier’s lab has pioneered the development of chemogenetic tools that enable the observation and control of biomolecules and dynamic biochemical events within living cells and tissues. By combining chemistry with cutting-edge genetic techniques, these tools can allow biologists to investigate fundamental mechanisms, explore the causes of diseases, and develop novel therapeutic strategies
Abstract: Cellular activities are orchestrated by the precise spatial and temporal organization of proteins. This involves compartmentalizing proteins within organelles or at the plasma membrane, as well as assembling them into complexes through scaffold proteins. Technologies that enable to chemically control protein interaction/proximity have been invaluable for understanding how the spatiotemporal protein organization influence processes like gene expression, protein trafficking, signalling, metabolism, immunity and cell–cell communication. In this presentation, I will introduce CATCHFIRE (chemically assisted tethering of chimera by fluorogenic induced recognition), a self-reporting chemically induced dimerization technology enabling to control protein proximity and thus cellular processes with high temporal control. CATCHFIRE employs genetically fused dimerizing domains that interact in the presence of fluorogenic inducers of proximity, which become fluorescent upon complex formation. This self-reporting ability enables real-time tracking of chemically induced protein proximity. I will present how CATCHFIRE can be applied to rapidly and reversibly control protein localization, trafficking, organelle transport, and cellular processes, opening new avenues for studying and manipulating biological functions with high spatiotemporal precision.
Speaker: Arnaud Gautier is Professor of Chemistry at Sorbonne University in Paris (France) and head of the team Chemogenetics for observing and controlling cell functions, co-affiliated to the research unit ‘Chimie Physique et Chimie du Vivant’ (affiliated to Sorbonne University, École Normale Supérieure and CNRS) and the research unit ‘Chemical Biology of Cancer’ (affiliated to Institut Curie, INSERM and CNRS). He studied chemistry at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, where he received a PhD in chemistry in 2005. In 2006, he joined the group of Kai Johnsson at the École Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne where he developed methods for labeling proteins in living cells. In 2009, he joined the group of Jason W. Chin at the MRC laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, where he worked on the expansion of the genetic code of mammalian cells. Arnaud Gautier was Assistant Professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure from 2010 to 2019, before joining Sorbonne University in 2019 as Full Professor. Arnaud Gautier’s lab has pioneered the development of chemogenetic tools that enable the observation and control of biomolecules and dynamic biochemical events within living cells and tissues. By combining chemistry with cutting-edge genetic techniques, these tools can allow biologists to investigate fundamental mechanisms, explore the causes of diseases, and develop novel therapeutic strategies
Abstract: Cellular activities are orchestrated by the precise spatial and temporal organization of proteins. This involves compartmentalizing proteins within organelles or at the plasma membrane, as well as assembling them into complexes through scaffold proteins. Technologies that enable to chemically control protein interaction/proximity have been invaluable for understanding how the spatiotemporal protein organization influence processes like gene expression, protein trafficking, signalling, metabolism, immunity and cell–cell communication. In this presentation, I will introduce CATCHFIRE (chemically assisted tethering of chimera by fluorogenic induced recognition), a self-reporting chemically induced dimerization technology enabling to control protein proximity and thus cellular processes with high temporal control. CATCHFIRE employs genetically fused dimerizing domains that interact in the presence of fluorogenic inducers of proximity, which become fluorescent upon complex formation. This self-reporting ability enables real-time tracking of chemically induced protein proximity. I will present how CATCHFIRE can be applied to rapidly and reversibly control protein localization, trafficking, organelle transport, and cellular processes, opening new avenues for studying and manipulating biological functions with high spatiotemporal precision.
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
- Milena Schuhmacher
Contact
- milena.schuhmacher@epfl.ch