Speaker Professor Manuela Zaccolo, Professor of Cell Biology, Director Burdon Sanderson Cardiac Science Centre, Deptartment of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford

Title Signalling at the nanoscale: role of phosphodiesterases in cAMP compartmentalisation

Host Elisabeth Ehler

 

Abstract Cardiac cAMP signalling is organised in a complex network of distinct but interconnected pathways activated by steep subcellular cAMP gradients that are confined within nanodomains. The cAMP-hydrolysing phosphodiesterases (PDEs) play a key role in shaping these gradients. Our recent research efforts have been focused on compiling a comprehensive map of the PDE-dependent cAMP nanodomains in cardiac myocytes using real-time imaging and targeted FRET reporters, combined with proteomics approaches. The aim is to uncover novel, non-obvious cAMP-dependent signalling nodes and to define where they are located, how they are regulated and coordinated and which cellular process they control. Unveiling the details of the complex cAMP signalling networks can potentially reveal promising novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of cardiac diseases with subcellular precision.