By Washington State University – Department of Translational Medicine and Physiology

Caspase-Mediated Regulation of Stress Responses

October 8, 2024
12:10–1:00 P.M. PDT
SAC 347 or via Zoom
Meeting ID: 998 2122 0897
Passcode: 901049

Chronic stress and inflammation are major risk factors for disease. Heightened stress responses suggest a failure to sense resolution of the stressor. Recently, we found that proteolytic cleavage of limited amounts of fatty acid synthase (FASN) releases a stable C-terminal fragment (FASN-CTF) that promotes an anti-inflammatory program including gene expression, metabolic programs and lipid droplets. Our current findings resolve how caspase is differentially regulated in stress responses versus cell death.

Speaker: Benjamin Weaver, PhD
Assistant Professor, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Benjamin (Ben) Weaver is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology. He also holds appointments in the Department of Physiology, the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine, and the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 2018, Ben established the Weaver lab as an Endowed Scholar where he holds the title of Virginia Murchison Linthicum Scholar in Medical Research. His group studies gene-environment interactions with particular interest in how the outcomes of these interactions impact development, stress responses, aging, stemness and innate immunity. The Weaver lab combines cross-disciplinary approaches using genetics, proteomics, metabolomics and biochemical analyses along with diverse models including C. elegans, mammalian cell culture, and in vitro systems.