From: Institut Fresnel, Marseille, France

Will give a seminar entitled:

The fourth element of the cytoskeleton: insights into animal septin organization and function

Septins comprise a family of cytoskeletal proteins conserved from algae and protists to mammals. Septins were discovered in budding yeast in the early 1970s as essential for cytokinesis, and follow-up studies established that they are also required for animal cell division. However, septins are expressed in practically all human tissues, including in non-dividing neurons. There is compelling evidence that septins play roles in a wide range of biological processes including cell motility, sperm integrity, neuron development, tissue morphogenesis, and host-pathogen interactions. Despite their essential roles in human pathophysiology, the way septins organize and function at the molecular scale in cells and tissues remains elusive. In this talk I will present our recent work on the organization and function of human septins in cells, including novel tools for assessing the interplay of septins with the actin cytoskeleton.