Frontiers of Science

March 6^th at 12:00
Onsite event
in Presidentti auditorium, BioCity
Spring 2025 program

Prof. Simon Robson, Harvard Medical School, USA
Reciprocal targeting of ENTPD/CD39 ectonucleotidases to inflame tumors and restore homeostasis
Host: Gennady Yegutkin (genyeg@utu.fi)

Coffee and sandwich at 11:45, first come first served!

Six PhD researchers and early-career postdocs are welcome to have a lunch and discuss with Prof. Robson after the seminar. This is a great possibility to learn hosting skills in a friendly environment and create connections for future. Everyone is welcome to join, BioCity Turku will offer the lunch.

If you got interested, please send an email to biocityturku@bioscience.fi

Simon Robson is a globally recognized leader in the field of purinergic signaling, holds the prestigious Charlotte F. and Irving W. Rabb Professorship of Medicine in Harvard and serves as Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Robson’s pioneering work on ectonucleotidases, particularly CD39, has revealed its crucial roles in T cells and endothelial cells, with broad implications for chronic inflammatory diseases, cancer, and transplantation. His foundational discoveries have had substantial translational impact, with ongoing clinical trials exploring CD39-targeted therapies for cancer. His current research continues to expand knowledge of purinergic signaling in immune-related diseases, including cancer and inflammatory bowel disease, with promising potential for clinical application. Dr. Robson’s combined scientific and medical expertise makes his talk highly relevant to both scientists and clinicians.

Selected publications

Feng L, Zhang H, Mao C, De Andrade Mello P, Stroopinsky D, Csizmadia E, Zhou J, Avigan D, Yu J, Gao W, Robson SC. Cd39 and P2rx7-Wnt signaling enhance blast pathogenicity in an experimental model of acute myeloid leukemia. Haematologica. 2024 Aug 15. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2024.285547.

Vignali PD DePeaux K, Watson MJ, Ye C, Ford BR, Lontos K, McGaa NK, Scharping NE, Menk AV, Robson SC, Poholek AC, Rivadeneira DB, Delgoffe GM. Hypoxia drives CD39-dependent suppressor function in exhausted T cells to limit antitumor immunity. Nat Immunol. 2023 Feb;24(2):267-279. doi: 10.1038/s41590-022-01379-9.

Zhang H, Feng L, de Andrade Mello P, Mao C, Near R, Csizmadia E, Chan LL, Enjyoji K, Gao W, Zhao H, Robson SC. Glycoengineered anti-CD39 promotes anticancer responses by depleting suppressive cells and inhibiting angiogenesis in tumor models. J Clin Invest. 2022 Jul 1;132(13):e157431. doi: 10.1172/JCI157431.

Sandhu B, Perez-Matos MC, Tran S, Singhal G, Syed I, Feldbrügge L, Mitsuhashi S, Pelletier J, Huang J, Yalcin Y, Csizmadia E, Tiwari-Heckler S, Enjyoji K, Sévigny J, Maratos-Flier E, Robson SC, Jiang ZG. Global deletion of NTPDase3 protects against diet-induced obesity by increasing basal energy metabolism. Metabolism. 2021 May;118:154731. doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2021.154731.

Harshe RP, Xie A, Vuerich M, Frank LA, Gromova B, Zhang H, Robles RJ, Mukherjee S, Csizmadia E, Kokkotou E, Cheifetz AS, Moss AC, Kota SK, Robson SC, Longhi MS. Endogenous antisense RNA curbs CD39 expression in Crohn’s disease. Nat Commun. 2020 Nov 18;11(1):5894. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19692-y.

Dwyer KM, Kishore BK, Robson SC. Conversion of extracellular ATP into adenosine: a master switch in renal health and disease. Nat Rev Nephrol. 2020 Sep;16(9):509-524. doi: 10.1038/s41581-020-0304-7.

General information

• You can download and save all the spring 2025 FoS-seminars to your calendar from here: https://seafile.utu.fi/d/44a70f80ac1e46a9ad0a/
• Registration is not needed, participation list is circulated in the audience
• If you are a student and later wish to get a certificate of attendance from the Frontier of Science seminars, print out the seminar diary and after the seminar ask the BioCity coordinator to sign it https://seafile.utu.fi/d/44a70f80ac1e46a9ad0a/
• Please note that any audio or video recording of the seminars is strictly forbidden.
• Spring 2025 image credits to Teemu Tuominen: Close up photograph of soil bacteria Streptomyces colonies border.