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SUMMARY:ChemBio seminar by Prof. Marcus Conrad (Helmholtz Munich) - CH-635
DTSTART:20240924T161500
DTEND:20240924T171500
DTSTAMP:20260510T221525Z
UID:14c82f46fd1d8027c2abc0c067677e89e5ba22b108150ee7764d27be
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Marcus Conrad\nTitle: Ferroptosis as the underlying mech
 anism in neurodegenerative disease?\n\nAbstract:\nSelenium-dependent gluta
 thione peroxidase 4 (GPX4)\, formerly known as phospholipid hydroperoxide 
 glutathione peroxidase (PHGPx)\, is the guardian of ferroptosis due to its
  unique role in reducing peroxides in phospholipid bilayers to their corre
 sponding alcohols. While genetic deletion of Gpx4 in mice leads to early e
 mbryonic death at the gastrulation stage\, the occurrence of biallelic del
 eterious variants of GPX4 is associated with the ultra-rare congenital dis
 order Sedaghatian-type spondylometaphyseal dysplasia (SSMD). SSMD is a dis
 ease that is usually fatal within a few days of birth and is characterised
  by severe chondrodysplasia\, delayed epiphyseal ossification\, irregular 
 iliac crests\, severe hypotonia and cardiorespiratory problems. In additio
 n\, affected patients exhibit severe central nervous system defects that i
 nclude mental\, behavioural and motor deficits. To investigate the molecul
 ar and structural basis of GPX4 in ferroptosis and neuroprotection\, we ha
 ve extensively studied a missense variant recently identified in SSMD pati
 ents. These studies not only elucidated the structural basis of GPX4 for f
 erroptosis prevention\, but also uncovered the cell death process underlyi
 ng neurodegeneration in humans. Our findings should therefore guide future
  efforts to develop ferroptosis-based therapies for the treatment of neuro
 degenerative diseases and beyond.\n \nSpeaker's biography:\nMarcus Conrad
  is Director of the Institute of Metabolism and Cell Death at Helmholtz Ze
 ntrum München. Marcus Conrad studied biology at the University of Konstan
 z\, Germany\, and received his doctorate with distinction from Ludwig-Maxi
 milians-University Munich in 2001. After a short postdoctoral period\, he 
 was an independent group leader until 2009 at Helmholtz Zentrum München. 
 From 2009 – 2010 he was employed as Laboratory Head at Bayer-Schering AG
 \, Berlin. After two years at the newly founded German Center for Neurodeg
 enerative Diseases\, he returned to Helmholtz Zentrum München as research
  group leader in 2012. In 2020\, he was appointed Director of the Institut
 e of Metabolism and Cell Death. His laboratory has pioneered the field of 
 ferroptosis and made a number of groundbreaking contributions to our under
 standing of oxidative cell death both in (neuro)degenerative diseases and 
 cancer. He discovered the first in vivo active ferroptosis inhibitors\, th
 e so-called liproxstatins\, whose next generation variants have already en
 tered preclinical development to be used for the treatment of (neuro)degen
 erative disease. Marcus Conrad has published more than 160 articles\, hold
 s several patents and is co-founder and shareholder of ROSCUE Therapeutics
  GmbH. He was recently appointed as a new member of the Hinterzarten Circl
 e of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) on cancer research.\n\nLab 
 website: https://www.conradlaboratory.com/\n 
LOCATION:CE 1 5 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==CE%201%205
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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