BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:Europe/Helsinki X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/Helsinki BEGIN:VEVENT UID:481@inflames.utu.fi DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20260507T100000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20260507T110000 DTSTAMP:20260417T062620Z URL:https://inflames.utu.fi/events/visiting-professor-scientific-seminar-a nna-bigas/ SUMMARY:Visiting professor Scientific seminar by Anna Bigas - The complexit y of making blood stem cells: from embryos to cells DESCRIPTION:Welcome to a Scientific seminar by InFLAMES visiting professor Anna Bigas!\n\nSpeaker: Anna Bigas\; Hospital del Mar Research Institute Barcelona\, Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute\, Spanish Cancer Vi rtual Center\nTitle: The complexity of making blood stem cells: from embry os to cells\nTime: 7 May 2026\, 10-11\nLocation: Osmo Järvi hall\, Medisi ina A-C\nHost: Professor Cecilia Sahlgren\, Åbo Akademi University\n\nCo ffee and sandwiches will be served at the start of the seminar. After the presentation professor Bigas will be available for lunch with early career researchers (12:00-13:30).\n\nBiography\n\nAnna Bigas has built her scien tific career around a fundamental question: how do signaling pathways gove rn the balance between stem cell formation\, differentiation\, and maligna nt transformation?\n\nTrained as a cell biologist at the University of Bar celona and later at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle\ , Bigas was among the first to demonstrate that Notch signaling actively r egulates hematopoietic differentiation. At a time when Notch was largely v iewed through a developmental lens\, her work helped position it as a cent ral regulator of blood formation.\n\nOver the past two decades\, her labor atory has redefined how signaling dosage and context control hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) emergence. She demonstrated that Jagged1-mediated Notch s ignaling is required for embryonic HSC generation\, that transient Wnt/β- catenin activity is essential for definitive hematopoiesis\, and that Notc h signal strength\, rather than binary activation\, determines hemogenic e ndothelial fate. Her group further identified critical Notch transcription al targets in emerging HSCs and uncovered cis-inhibitory mechanisms that s ustain embryonic HSC identity. Together\, these discoveries established th e principle that stem cell specification depends on tightly calibrated sig naling thresholds\, a concept now central to efforts to engineer HSCs in v itro.\n\nBigas also revealed how developmental signaling logic becomes hij acked in leukemia. In a landmark study\, she demonstrated that Notch susta ins constitutive NFκB activation in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia ( T-ALL) through repression of the tumor suppressor CYLD\, uncovering a dire ct mechanistic bridge between two major oncogenic pathways. Her laboratory later showed that β-catenin is required for T-ALL initiation\, identifie d relapse clones that pre-exist at diagnosis\, and recently defined a β-c atenin–dependent RNA biosynthesis program driving therapy resistance.\n\ nBeyond leukemia\, her work uncovered unexpected chromatin-bound roles of IκBα and IKKα in regulating stemness\, DNA damage responses and therapy resistance\, and identified fetal-like transcriptional programs that fuel colorectal cancer metastasis.\n\nNow Scientific Director of CIBERONC in S pain and an elected EMBO member\, Bigas combines fundamental mechanistic d iscovery with translational coordination at the national and European leve ls\, including contributions to the European Cancer Mission initiative UNC AN.eu.\n\nHer work has consistently shown that signaling pathways do not m erely switch genes on or off. They operate in gradients\, thresholds and c hromatin contexts\, and when those parameters shift\, stem cells emerge or malignancies arise. By decoding those rules\, Bigas has reshaped how the field understands stem cell fate and leukemic transformation.\n\nSelected publications\n\n Chromatin activity of IκBα mediates the exit from naï ve pluripotency\, Palma et al.\, 2025\, Elife\, https://doi.org/10.7554/el ife.102784\n An unbiased genomewide screen uncovers 7 genes that drive he matopoietic stem cell fate from mouse embryonic stem cells\, Palma et al.\ , 2025\, Blood\, https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2024027742\n IκBα contro ls dormancy in hematopoietic stem cells via retinoic acid during embryonic development\, Thambyrajah et al.\, 2024\, Nat Commun\, https://doi.org/10 .1038/s41467-024-48854-5\n Cis inhibition of NOTCH1 through JAGGED1 susta ins embryonic hematopoietic stem cell fate\, Thambyrajah et al.\, 2024\, N at Commun\, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45716-y\n β-Catenin activ ity induces an RNA biosynthesis program promoting therapy resistance in T- cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia\, García-Hernández  et al.\, 2023\, E MBO Mol Med\, https://doi.org/10.15252/emmm.202216554\n ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://inflames.utu.fi/wp-content/uploads/Anna- Bigas-1-2.jpg CATEGORIES:Events in English,Tapahtumat END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Helsinki X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Helsinki BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260329T040000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0300 TZNAME:EEST END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR