I would like to thank the speakers and all of you who attended our NERD Club (New England RNA Data Club). One amazing aspect of our club is the diversity of the topics included. Last night we had talks about mTOR signalling (TOR = Target of rapamycin) and how it activates the translation of certain mRNAs. TOR signalling is fascinating. It is the major way that cells assess the nutritional status of the cell. If the nutrient levels plummet, TOR signalling will inhibit a lot of the translation in the cell. Recently TOR signalling has been shown to be important in all sorts of translational events. In addition TOR signalling is disregulated in many cancer cells. Thus tumors can grow even when the nutrient levels are low. Max Ma's work gives us an extra info on exactly why TOR signalling promotes translation. I'll let you read the paper when it comes out (hopefully in Cell ...) We also heard a talk about the latest miRNA-target prediction algorithm. And we heard about CPEB4 (the cytoplasmic poly-adenylation element binding protein 4) and its link to endoplasmic reticulum stress (to read about ER stress click here.)
The next NERD Club meeting will be held November 20th. For more info, check out the website.
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