Novel Cell Cycle Regulation of Adult Stem Cell Populations; Implications in Neural Tumorigenesis

The cyclin-like protein Spy1 activates cyclin-dependent kinases to progress the cell cycle using a unique mechanism that is relatively insensitive to senescent inducing stimuli. This appears to be essential for meosis, and to be required for aspects of normal development but is downregulated in most adult systems. In several forms of cancer however the protein is stabilized and/or the gene amplified or overexpressed. The Porter lab has developed several mouse, zebrafish and cell systems to study how this protein is involved in development and cancer. This talk will focus on the role of Spy1 in neural development, stem cell division/induced pluripotency and neural tumorigenesis.