【Seminar】October 31, 2018, Wednesday

Topic: Nucleotides are so important for our life, then what else?
Speaker: Zee-Fen Chang, Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Taiwan University
Date: October 31, 2018, Wednesday
Time: 15:00-16:30
Venue: Governing Board Meeting Room, Dao Yuan Building (DY103)
Language: English

Abstract
Nucleotides are the fundamental building blocks of life, i.e. dNTPs for DNA and rNTPs for RNA. Each rNTP generally also has their specific function in biological system, ATP for energy, GTP for G-protein signaling, UTP for polysaccharides synthesis and CTP for lipid conjugation. Moreover, extracellular adenosine and intracellular cAMP have signal function in dictating cellular behaviors in physiology. Over a half century, inhibition of thymidylate synthetase (TS) by 5-Fluorouracil (5FU) or 5-Fluoro-deoxyuracil (5FdU) has been the most widely used for anti-cancer treatment. The therapeutics is based on inhibition of dTTP synthesis, leading to thymine-less and dUTP dependent death in cancer cells. TS mediates the de novo synthesis of dTTP. However, dTTP synthesis can also be supported by the salvage pathway of thymidine kinase (TK), and cells contain TK1 in cytosol and TK2 in mitochondria. In this talk, I will discuss the subcellular location of dTTP synthesis and the potential of targeting thymidylate kinase (TMPK), which catalyzes the merging step for both de novo and salvage synthesis of dTTP, in anti-cancer and anti-fungus treatment.

About the Speaker
Professional Experiences

Major Honors/Awards

2015 Distinguished Research Award, Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan
2013 The 57th Academic Award, Education Ministry, Taiwan
2013 Dr. T.-M. Tu Memorial Lectureship, Dr. T.-M. Tu Scholarship Foundation
2004 Outstanding Research Award, National Science Council, Taiwan
2002 Chin-Hsin Medical Award, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University
1999 Outstanding Research Award, National Science Council, Taiwan