BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:iCalendar-Ruby BEGIN:VEVENT CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations DESCRIPTION:The Chemistry & Biochemistry Colloquium guest speaker will be P rof. Masaoki Kawasumi: UV-Induced DNA Damage Response\, Epigenetic Abnormal ities\, and Skin Cancer. Dr. Kawasumi is an Assistant Professor in the Depa rtment of Dermatology\, University of Washington. \n\nSkin cancer is the mo st prevalent cancer in the United States and is strongly associated with ul traviolet (UV) radiation that generates many mutations. It is critical to a void excessive sunlight in order to prevent skin cancer. Also\, chemopreven tion is of great interest. Human epidemiological studies and our mouse stud ies showed that caffeine prevents UV-induced skin carcinogenesis. We found that the most relevant target of caffeine for skin cancer prevention is the ATR kinase\, which senses UV-induced DNA lesions and stops the cell cycle. Genetic inhibition of ATR augmented UV-induced apoptosis and suppressed UV -induced skin cancer development.\n\n \n\nSkin cancer has not only genetic mutations but also epigenetic abnormalities which may affect gene expressio n levels. Our mouse study showed that topical application of caffeine to mo use back skin reduced the frequency of Cdkn2a/p16 promoter mutations. These mutations inhibited the binding of ETS transcription factors\, likely redu cing the expression of the p16 tumor suppressor. Furthermore\, our sequenci ng analyses of skin cancer identified the gene whose expression is downregu lated and whose promoter is methylated\, potentially contributing to aggres siveness of skin cancer.\n\n \n\nWe have been developing CRISPR-Cas9-based epigenome editing tools to change DNA/histone modifications specifically at a genomic region of interest. We targeted the p16 promoter that is methyla ted in skin cancer\, thereby silencing p16. By using our epigenome editing tools\, we were able to reactive p16 and inhibit cell proliferation. These epigenome editing tools have many possibilities to regulate the expression of cancer-related genes in order to inhibit cancer phenotypes. DTEND:20241002T210500Z DTSTAMP:20241122T235535Z DTSTART:20241002T201000Z GEO:39.322732;-82.10287 LOCATION:Walter Hall\, Room 145 SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Chemistry Colloquium: Prof. Masaoki Kawasumi UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_47667035210225 URL:https://calendar.ohio.edu/event/chemistry-colloquium-prof-masaoki-kawas umi END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR