Sanjeevi Sivasankar, Ph.D., Professor, UC Davis, Optical tools and antibodies to engineer cadherin cell-cell adhesion

Speaker:

Sanjeevi Sivasankar, Ph.D.
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
University of California, Davis

Faculty Host
Beth Pruitt

Title: Optical tools and antibodies to engineer cadherin cell-cell adhesion

Abstract:

Cells in tissues exert forces as they squeeze, stretch, flex and pull on each other. A key protein responsible for sensing and withstanding mechanical force are the cadherin family of cell-cell adhesion proteins. Cadherins are essential for the formation and maintenance of tissue and disruption in adhesion result in severe diseases like cancer. My group’s research focuses on developing and using ultrasensitive tools to resolve cadherin binding partners in cells and to tune cadherin adhesion. I will present new data, on both these research areas in my talk. First, I will describe a light activated proximity labeling method that we have recently developed for high precision mapping of cadherin interactions with high resolution. Next, I will demonstrate how cadherin adhesion can be strengthened using monoclonal antibodies that target the cadherin binding interface.

Bio:

Sanjeevi Sivasankar is a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biophysics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and then did his postdoctoral training at Stanford University/UC Berkeley. Research in the Sivasankar lab focuses on understanding how cells tune their adhesion and how this process goes awry in cancer. His group is also developing technologies to discover new adhesive interactions in cells. Research in the Sivasankar lab has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, and the March of Dimes Foundation.