CSSB Seminar Series - Pietro Scaturro
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https://desy.zoom.us/j/87046332764
Meeting ID: 870 4633 2764
Passcode: 813585
Abstract:
Flavivirus infections emerged in the past decade as a global health challenge, given their enormous epidemic potential and their severe pathological outcomes. Despite a relatively high genetic similarity and overall conserved replication strategies, these viruses evolved finely tuned and divergent mechanisms of host exploitation, resulting in extraordinarily distinct tropisms and pathogeneses. To establish efficient replication and transmission, viruses need “entry points”, in order to access specific cellular functions or evade dedicated defense mechanisms. This is often accomplished through direct binding of specific cellular proteins (i.e. protein-protein interactions), perturbation of the proteostasis of a subset of cellular proteins (i.e. turnover rate/stability) or modulation of the activity of entire cellular pathways through chemical modification of key signalling components (i.e. post-translational modifications).
Our group uses cutting-edge mass-spectrometry-based discovery tools to systematically identify how pathogenic viruses (i.e. DENV, ZIKV, SARS-CoV-2) perturb protein and proteome homeostasis at all levels. The ultimate aim of these efforts is to shed light on the molecular mechanisms of virus-host adaptation, thereby exposing, categorizing and characterizing novel molecular targets.
