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Talk by Jason King

Title: "The cell biology of phagocytes: learning to eat and drink"
Occasion: SFB Seminar
Host: Caroline Barisch
Start: 19.01.2023 - 16:15
Location: CellNanOs 38/201

About the speaker: Jason King researches at the University of Sheffield, UK

Abstract of the talk: The main focus of our laboratory is to understand the twin endocytic processes of macropinocytosis and phagocytosis, which allow cells to engulf fluid and solid substrates such as extracellular microbes respectively. Both are important for immune cell function, but macropinocytosis also allows cancer cells to feed on extracellular protein and provides a route for pathogens to gain entry into host cells.

Engulfment requires extensive remodelling of the actin cytoskeleton to initially extend 3D cup-shaped protrusion that eventually enclose the target within a vesicle. This must subsequently be fused with lysosomes for killing and digestion. I will describe our latest data, where we use lattice light sheet microscopy to understand how the cup shape is formed and closes. I will also talk about how the subsequent maturation and digestion is regulated by generation of the phosphoinositide PI(3,5)P2 giving new insights into both the regulation of the Rab5/Rab7 transition and mechanisms of phagosomal killing.