Dear All

I would like to cordially invite you to the Nencki Institute Seminar which will take place next Thursday, 12^th of January at 3pm in the CN lecture Hall.

We will host prof. Wolfgang Linke, Director of the Institute of Physiology II at the University of Muenster. Prof. Linke will give a lecture entitled: Muscle function on the shoulders of a giant: Cracking the titin puzzle

Abstract

The giant protein titin is essential for making and maintaining sarcomeres in striated muscles, including the heart. Titin is well known for its function as a molecular spring in the I-band of the sarcomeres and for serving as a molecular ruler and stabilizer of the sarcomere, notably the A-band region. Moreover, titin is a mechanosensitive protein, which has been implicated in length-dependent activation, an intriguing but incompletely understood phenomenon of sarcomere function. Another area of intense research is the role titin changes play in heart failure and inherited cardiac muscle diseases, such as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and titin-truncation cardiomyopathy, respectively. In this lecture, I will recapitulate some milestones in the discovery of titin function, including the molecular mechanism of titin elasticity and its regulation, and summarize important new findings in this field. Along the way, I will discuss how posttranslational modifications can regulate titin-based myocardial stiffness. I will then focus on how pathophysiological alterations to titin can lead to cardiac muscle dysfunction, such as diastolic stiffening or contractile deficiency caused by truncation in the titin gene. Finally, I will cover current efforts aimed at treating these titin deficiencies in the context of heart disease.

The lecture will be followed by a get together.

Aleksandra Pękowska