Outside-in biology and disease

For life to exist, cells need to be able to sense and respond to their environment. To do so, cells of multicellular organisms produce highly specialized networks of proteins and glycans that include the extracellular matrix, or ECM. Glycans and ECM both provide and recognize extracellular signals and translate them into biological information. In turn, cells alter their phenotype in this bidirectional life process, which combines intrinsic template-dependent biology (nucleic acids and proteins) with template-independent metabolism (glycans and lipids). Glycosylation and the ECM are critical features of this bidirectional control of cell biology and disease. Glycans, produced by the enzymatic process of glycosylation, are an abundant and diverse repertoire of glycosidic linkages. The ECM is a complex network of secreted glycoproteins, proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans that interact with cell receptors, ECM molecules, growth factors and enzymes.

This track will explore the activities and mechanisms by which these cell-derived components govern health and disease, emphasizing emerging links with cancer, immunity, inflammation and metabolism and including infectious and neurological diseases.

Keywords: glycosylation, ECM, cancer, inflammation, development, fibrosis, immunity, infection, neurobiology

Who should attend: anyone who is interested in understanding how cells function and respond to the environment through componentry that includes glycans and the ECM in the regulation of development, metabolism, inflammation and immunity and in the pathogenesis of multiple diseases

Theme song: “Built to Last” by the Grateful Dead.

This track is powered by proteins and sugars.