Where and when
Genoa, Italy – May 16, 2025
speaker: Paolo Armando Gagliardi
affiliation: Department of Oncology, University of Turin, Italy
date: Friday, May 16, 2025 – 12.00 pm (Italian time)
venue: Genoa (Italy), Polo Valletta Puggia – University of Genoa: DIBRIS-DIMA (room 704)
link: Google Meet
Quantitative Analysis of Single-Cell Dynamics in MAPK Signaling: From Physiology to Cancer
abstract: How do cells make decisions in response to dynamic environmental signals? The MAPK/ERK pathway plays a central role in this process, regulating key cellular functions such as proliferation, differentiation, migration, and survival. This seminar explores how time-resolved patterns of ERK activity – captured through live-cell biosensors and single-cell imaging – encode information that governs both individual cell behaviors and coordinated tissue responses.
By quantitatively analyzing thousands of single-cell trajectories, we uncover how ERK signaling dynamics orchestrate epithelial homeostasis and morphogenesis, and how these patterns are disrupted by oncogenic mutations. In particular, we highlight the emergence of collective ERK/Akt activity waves as key regulators of tissue-level coordination, with critical roles in both normal physiology and cancer progression.
These findings demonstrate how a multidisciplinary approach, combining biosensors, advanced imaging, and quantitative analysis, can reveal fundamental principles of signaling dynamics, with broad implications for understanding disease mechanisms and advancing precision oncology.