Tamara Reyes-Robles, from Merck Research Laboratory's Exploratory Science Center, will deliver a seminar entitled, "Understanding Immune Cell Interactions via Photocatalysis." Hosted by Tania Lupoli.
For more information about Tamara Reyes-Robles, click here.
Abstract: Membrane protein interactions occurring on the same cell surface (cis) and across different cells (trans) play essential roles in regulating cellular function. A prominent example is the surface interactions between immunomodulatory receptors (IMRs) to initiate and regulate immune responses. The success in modulating these interactions with checkpoint inhibitors underscores the high value in understanding IMRs and the proteins that can affect their functions. A powerful technique for the unbiased assessment of protein-protein interactions or bystander proteins with effector function on the cell surface is protein proximity labeling. Enzyme-based strategies have been developed over the last 10 years that either generate a reactive labeling species in proximity to the protein of interest, or physically “stamp” neighboring proteins. The success of these approaches has led to the consideration of other chemical-based methods that are smaller in size, temporally controlled, and/or can avoid harsh treatment conditions. A remarkable example is the use of photocatalytic-based transformations whereby protein residues are labeled in the presence of visible light and a photocatalyst to alter protein activity and/or probe cellular function. To this end, we have successfully developed a visible light- activated labeling strategy for temporally-controlled membrane protein proximity labeling. This talk will describe the successful demonstration of this novel labeling technology on different cell types including a two-cell, immune synapse system with the end goal of identifying proteins with effector function.