Moderator: Syed Ahmad Chan Bukhari, Collins College of Professional Studies, Computer Science, Mathematics and Science
Speaker: Dr. Humayun Sharif, Harvard Medical School, USA

Talk Summary: Structural biology helps understand three-dimensional molecular architecture of proteins and nucleic acids at atomic resolution level. It uses biophysical methods to analyze proteins and their structures by employing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), X-ray crystallography and Cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) techniques. Recent advances in protein structure determination especially by Cryo-EM has revolutionized structural biology and its huge impact is not only in understanding basic biological pathways mechanisms but also it has revolutionized drug design and is a desired method for structure-based drug design in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.  

Human bodies have first line of defense called innate immune system that guards us against pathogens including viruses. Innate immune cells upon identifying threats by specialized sensor proteins initiate self-defense mechanisms which includes alarming neighboring cells or by self-death. These sensors make cytoplasmic supramolecular complexes called inflammasomes upon sensing danger leading to programmed cell death (pyroptosis).

In the seminar, I will emphasize on structural and functional diversity of different inflammasomes and will give you a snapshot of how tightly these inflammasome signaling is regulated. By comparing three inflammasomes NLRP3, NLRP1 and CARD8 activation mechanisms, I will explain their subtle structural similarities and functional diversity. I will also focus on how our studies help in understanding of auto-immune diseases linked to hyper-activation of these inflammasomes.

About the speaker: Humayun Sharif is a structural biologist and biochemist by training. He uses advanced structural biology and biochemical techniques to study host-pathogen interaction and innate immune response. He is currently working as an instructor at the Department of BCMP, Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital in Prof. Hao Wu’s laboratory. Prior to this, he completed his PhD with Prof. Elena Conti at Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Germany, where he worked on mRNA decapping activators by using X-ray crystallography.

Please join us at 2:00 pm by clicking the WebEx link https://sju.webex.com/sju/j.php?MTID=mf88e49216d34ceb5e627414c233c1065.