[ASC-list] Free ANZAAS talk, Melbourne, Wed 19th June 6:30 pm - “Insulin meets its receptor - a tale of molecular engagement”

[David Vaux]

Free, all welcome (booking not needed) Bring your friends!

Free pizza and drinks after the talk

At GTAC, located in the grounds of University High School, corner Royal Parade and Story Street, Parkville (enter off Story Street or Royal Parade)

Wednesday 19th June 2013, 6:30 pm

Dr Mike Lawrence

Laboratory Head, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

“Insulin meets its receptor - a tale of molecular engagement“

Since its discovery in 1922, insulin has been the key treatment for Type 1 diabetes. However, understanding the structure and functioning of this remarkable hormone has been a formidable challenge, with four Nobel prizes being associated in some way with this molecule. Since 1991, our laboratory, initially at CSIRO and now at the Walter + Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), has been trying to understand the molecular detail of the primary event in the insulin signalling pathway - namely, the engagement of the hormone with its receptor on the cellular surface. In January this year, we published in Nature the first three-dimensional view of this interaction, revealing an intriguing complexity of conformational change in both the hormone and the receptor as they come together to form the signalling complex. The experimental data underlying these findings were acquired at the Australian Synchrotron. In this presentation, I will present these findings, which ultimately have the potential to lead to new therapeutics not only in diabetes, but also in cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

Mike Lawrence obtained a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Cape Town. He then moved into the nascent field of protein crystallography during a post-doctoral period at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. He emigrated to Australia in 1988 to join CSIRO. Since 2007 he has been leading the study of the insulin / insulin receptor interaction at WEHI.

Forthcoming talks:

July            17th   Prof Franz Grieser, Sonochemistry, Particulate Fluids Processing Centre

August        21st  Prof Rob Metcalf, Fibrinolysis and Gene Regulation Laboratory, Monash

September 18th  Prof Ingrid Scheffer, Genetics of Epilepsy, Austin Health and RCH

We are pleased to acknowledge the support by CSL and GTAC for the ANZAAS Melbourne science talks series


Further Info:         David Vaux       9345 2941                davidlaurencevaux at gmail.com<mailto:davidlaurencevaux at gmail.com>
http://www.anzaas.org.au/victoria/
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