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Ankush Madaan, a PhD student in Sylvain Chemtob's lab has won a scholarship from the McGill CIHR Drug Development Training Program (DDTP) for 2012.
He has also won the best Oral Presentation Award at a recent Vision Research conference held at University of Laval.
Shahriar Khan, a PhD student in Terry Hebert's lab, has won a scholarship from the McGill CIHR Drug Development Training Program.
Dr. Sarah Gora, a post-doc in Terry Hebert's lab, has won a fellowship from the McGill CIHR Drug Development Training Program.
Ankush Madaan, a graduate student in Sylvain Chemtob’s lab, has won best poster presentation (over all) - Dept. of Ophthalmology, U de M., best oral presentation (over all) - Annual Research Day, Hospital Maisonneuve Rosemont and best poster presentation (Masters category) - Annual Research Day, Hospital Sainte Justine.
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Functional interactions between OTR and β2AR: Implications for ERK1/2 activation in human myometrial cells.
Wrzal, P., Goupil, E., Laporte, S.A., Hébert, T.E. and Zingg, H.H.
Cellular Signalling (2012) 24:333-341
Allosteric interactions between OTR and β2AR modulate ERK1/2 activation in human myometrial cells.
Wrzal, P., Devost, D., Pétrin, D., Goupil, E., Ionio-Morin, C., Laporte, S.A., Zingg, H.H. and Hébert, T.E.
Cellular Signalling (2012) 24:342-350
The oxytocin receptor (OTR) and the β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR), mediate uterine contractions and relaxation, respectively. These two receptors belong to the superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and are important pharmacological targets because OTR antagonists and b2AR agonists are both used to control pre-term uterine contractions. Although they have opposing effects on the myometrium, both receptors activate the MAP kinase ERK1/2, which have been implicated in uterine contractions and the onset of labour. However, the precise mechanisms by which the OTR and the β2AR activate ERK1/2 in human myometrial cells remains to be characterized. Further, crosstalk between the β2AR and OTR signalling has been shown in the myometrium, but it is unclear what mechanisms drive this. In the two back-to-back studies published in Cellular SIgnalling from the Zingg and Hébert labs, Paulina Wrzal and her collaborators describe a novel molecular mechanism for β2AR-mediated ERK1/2 activation in myometrial cells, which involves the activation of a pathway involving Gαi-PI3kinase-PKCζ and Src. This signalling cascade is dependent on the presence of the OTR. We also demonstrate physical interactions between OTR and β2AR using co-immunoprecipitation, bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) and protein-fragment complementation (PCA) assays in HEK 293 cells. These interactions, in the context of a receptor heterodimer, allow for allosteric control by one receptor partner of the ERK1/2 activation mediated by the other receptor partner in human myometrial cells. These studies illustrates the notion that formation of GPCR heterodimers can generate receptors with unique properties distinct from individual receptors. Understanding how dimerization is arranged and controlled and more importantly the resulting signalling and pharmacology of such complexes will be crucial for future drug design.
The impact of heterodimerization of β2AR
signalling in the myometrium
Click here for more info: paper 1 paper 2
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