A Special seminar by the EMBO Global Investigator, Associate Prof María Isabel Yuseff, the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, on next Tuesday 1.2. at 13:00 in Lauren-2 lecture hall.

The title of her talk is:

Coupling Cytoskeleton Dynamics to Polarized lysosome Trafficking: Impact on B cell Responses.

Dr Yuseff’s research in immune cell biology focuses on addressing two fundamental questions: 1. How B lymphocytes orchestrate cytoskeleton and organelle dynamics (lysosome/ER) to promote their antigen processing and presenting functions, and 2. How are these processes are tuned in inflammation responses and in pathologies such as autoimmunity. By combining cell biological approaches and immunological assays the research group recently revealed two mechanisms that regulate membrane trafficking at the B cell synapse, enabling them to become competent as antigen presenting cells. The first one involves the exocyst complex, which is assembled upon B cell activation and regulates local exocytosis of lysosomes at the synaptic membrane. The second one involves local protein degradation, controlled by the proteasome, which regulates actin remodeling, membrane trafficking, and cell spreading upon antigen recognition.

Dr Yuseff is visiting the University of Turku for three weeks, until 18.2. You are welcome to also meet with her in person. In such case, please contact Academy Research Fellow Pieta Mattila (pieta.mattila@utu.fi).

Some of the latest publications by Dr Yuseff are listed below:

• Ulloa, R., Corrales, O., Cabrera, F., Jara-Wilde, J., Saez, JJ., Rivas, C., Lagos, J., Härtel, S., Quiroga, C., Yuseff MI*, Jheimmy Diaz Muñoz*. B cells adapt their nuclear morphology to organize the immune synapse and facilitate antigen extraction.
• Cabrera-Reyes F, Parra-Ruiz C, Yuseff MI*, Zanlungo S*. “Alterations in Lysosome Homeostasis in Lipid-Related Disorders: Impact on Metabolic Tissues and Immune Cells” Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Dec 10;9:790568. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.790568.
• Ibañez-Vega, J., Del Valle, F., Sáez, JJ., Guzmán, F., Diaz, J., Soza, A., Yuseff, MI*. “Ecm29-Dependent Proteasome Localization Regulates Cytoskeleton Remodeling at the Immune Synapse” Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 May 13,9:650817. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.650817.
• Sáez, JJ., Diaz, J., Ibañez, J., Bozo, JP., Cabrera, R., Alamo, M., Gobert, FX., Obino, D, Bono, MR., Lennon-Duménil, AM., Yeaman, C and Yuseff. MI. “The exocyst controls lysosome secretion and antigen extraction at the immune synapse of B cells” J Cell Biol. 2019 Jun 13. pii: jcb.201811131
• Ibañez, J., Del Valle-Batalla, F., Sáez, JJ., Soza, A. and Yuseff MI. “Proteasome dependent actin remodeling facilitates antigen extraction at the immune synapse of B cells”. Front Immunol. 2019 Feb 19;10:225.
• Obino D, Fetler L, Soza A, Malbec O, Saez JJ, Labarca M, Oyanadel C, Del Valle Batalla F, Goles N, Chikina A, Lankar D, Segovia-Miranda F, Garcia C, Léger T, Gonzalez A, Espéli M, Lennon-Duménil AM, Yuseff MI. “Galectin-8 favors the presentation of surface-tethered antigens by stabilizing the B cell immune synapse”. Cell Rep. 2018 Dec 11;25(11):3110-3122.e6.
• Obino D, Diaz J, Sáez JJ, Ibañez-Vega J, Sáez PJ, Alamo M, Lankar D, Yuseff MI. “Vamp-7-dependent secretion at the immune synapse regulates antigen extraction and presentation in B-lymphocytes”.Mol Biol Cell. 2017.Apr 1;28(7):890-897.