[Bioundgrd] Undergraduate Seminar-Lost in Translation

[Betsey Walsh]

Hello All,

Just wanted to make you all aware of a seminar series that will be 
running this fall.  This is a great chance to learn how to read 
literature and think about science in an informal setting with small 
class sizes.  The seminar deals with the process of translation and 
how it plays such an important role in the development of all 
organisms, the abstract below will give you more of an idea of what 
it will involve, but if you are interested or just want to know more 
come along to the stand on registration day, we will be there from 
1-3 Pm on Tuesday Sept 6 at the end of the building close to the 
biology headquarters.

Hope to see some of you on Tuesday

Leah Vardy (Orr-Weaver Lab)

7.344 Lost in Translation: >From Egg to Embryo and Beyond

Advanced undergraduate seminar series. Fall 2005. Thursdays 11-1pm
Instructor: Leah Vardy (Orr-Weaver Lab)
vardy at wi.mit.edu

Have you ever wondered how an egg becomes a fly, a worm, a frog, a 
mouse or a human? Why heads are heads and tails are tails? While we 
look so different from the humble toad, we both use many of the same 
processes to develop. What lies at the heart of development includes 
not just our genes, but also how these genes are expressed, i.e. how 
mRNA is regulated.  In this course we will begin to explore some of 
the ways in which mRNA is regulated and see the developmental 
consequences when translation is disrupted. We will consider flies, 
frogs and mice to see how they turn on and off different mRNAs to 
meet their developmental needs. Topics will include mRNA 
localization, which is fundamental in distinguishing the head from 
the tail of a fruit fly. We will look at the importance of protein 
translation in the maturation of frog and mouse eggs and in the 
production of sperm and eggs in a hermaphrodite worm. We will discuss 
the variety of ways an embryo can fine-tune its mRNA expression to 
ensure production of a protein in the exact space and time required. 
 Examples will include different ways to activate and suppress 
translation, including polyadenylation, the action of specific RNA 
binding proteins and the recently discovered important role played by 
microRNAs. Finally, we will see that misregulation of translation 
also plays a central role in a number of human diseases.

Leah Vardy
Orr-Weaver Lab
Whitehead Institute
Nine Cambridge Center, Room 539
Cambridge, MA  02142
USA
Tel: 001-617-258-5246

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