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Priority Programme "Epithelial Intercellular Junctions as Dynamic Hubs to Integrate Forces, Signals and Cell Behaviour" (SPP 1782)
Termin:
01.05.2018
Fördergeber:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
The Senate of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) has established the Priority Programme entitled "Epithelial Intercellular Junctions as Dynamic Hubs to Integrate Forces, Signals and Cell Behaviour" (SPP 1782). The programme is designed to run for six years. The present call invites proposals for the second three-year funding period.
Epithelia line organ and body surfaces to provide structural support and serve as barriers against diverse external stressors such as mechanical force, pathogens, toxins, and dehydration. Further, they separate different physiological environments and are instrumental during morphogenesis. Epithelial functions depend greatly on the ability of intercellular junctions to sense and integrate chemical signals and mechanical forces. They transmit these into cells to direct rapid changes in cell architecture and/or transcriptional programming, thus directing cellular behaviour. Understanding at a mechanistic level how intercellular junctions sense their neighbours, chemical signals and force, and conversely, how the cytoskeleton feeds back to intercellular junctions, will be central to comprehend control of tissue morphogenesis, homeostasis and regeneration. Further, elucidating how defects in intercellular junction components by-pass junction-mediated control of epithelial tissue integrity is a prerequisite to understand the basis of multiple disorders including epithelial inherited fragility disorders, inflammation and cancer.
The primary goal of the Priority Programme is to understand how intercellular junctions sense and respond to chemical and mechanical signals from their external environment and from the cytoskeleton and how they convert these signals into processes that instruct epithelial morphogenesis, differentiation and pathogenesis. Current participating scientists have established interdisciplinary, collaborative projects, ranging from the level of molecules to cells, tissues and model organisms, combining biophysical, biochemical, cell biological and physiological techniques. All projects should aim at the following goals:
o identification of molecules that sense and transmit mechanical force and chemical signals at intercellular junctions, and investigation of pathways that mediate downstream signal transmission to the cytoskeleton and other cell components
o integration of chemical and mechanical signals by adherens junctions, tight junctions and desmosomes to regulate cell behaviour and cell fate
o understanding at a quantitative level how mechanical force is sensed at intercellular junctions and how it is transmitted into chemical signals, and conversely, how chemical signalling regulates the strength of intercellular adhesion
o advancement of biophysical and imaging methods to analyse force and chemical signalling in tissues
To foster optimal collaboration between groups, the following projects are explicitly excluded:
o work on cytoskeletal proteins not focussing on their interactions with intercellular junctions
o analysis of cell-matrix junctions
o studies that focus on gap and tight junctions except if they investigate potential adhesive functions
o descriptive, non-mechanistic studies on disease conditions or animal models except if they include mechanistic analysis in cultured cells derived from the above sources
o identification or characterisation of adhesive junction-related biomarkers
Further Information
http://www.dfg.de/foerderung/info_wissenschaft/info_wissenschaft_17_84/index.html
Epithelia line organ and body surfaces to provide structural support and serve as barriers against diverse external stressors such as mechanical force, pathogens, toxins, and dehydration. Further, they separate different physiological environments and are instrumental during morphogenesis. Epithelial functions depend greatly on the ability of intercellular junctions to sense and integrate chemical signals and mechanical forces. They transmit these into cells to direct rapid changes in cell architecture and/or transcriptional programming, thus directing cellular behaviour. Understanding at a mechanistic level how intercellular junctions sense their neighbours, chemical signals and force, and conversely, how the cytoskeleton feeds back to intercellular junctions, will be central to comprehend control of tissue morphogenesis, homeostasis and regeneration. Further, elucidating how defects in intercellular junction components by-pass junction-mediated control of epithelial tissue integrity is a prerequisite to understand the basis of multiple disorders including epithelial inherited fragility disorders, inflammation and cancer.
The primary goal of the Priority Programme is to understand how intercellular junctions sense and respond to chemical and mechanical signals from their external environment and from the cytoskeleton and how they convert these signals into processes that instruct epithelial morphogenesis, differentiation and pathogenesis. Current participating scientists have established interdisciplinary, collaborative projects, ranging from the level of molecules to cells, tissues and model organisms, combining biophysical, biochemical, cell biological and physiological techniques. All projects should aim at the following goals:
o identification of molecules that sense and transmit mechanical force and chemical signals at intercellular junctions, and investigation of pathways that mediate downstream signal transmission to the cytoskeleton and other cell components
o integration of chemical and mechanical signals by adherens junctions, tight junctions and desmosomes to regulate cell behaviour and cell fate
o understanding at a quantitative level how mechanical force is sensed at intercellular junctions and how it is transmitted into chemical signals, and conversely, how chemical signalling regulates the strength of intercellular adhesion
o advancement of biophysical and imaging methods to analyse force and chemical signalling in tissues
To foster optimal collaboration between groups, the following projects are explicitly excluded:
o work on cytoskeletal proteins not focussing on their interactions with intercellular junctions
o analysis of cell-matrix junctions
o studies that focus on gap and tight junctions except if they investigate potential adhesive functions
o descriptive, non-mechanistic studies on disease conditions or animal models except if they include mechanistic analysis in cultured cells derived from the above sources
o identification or characterisation of adhesive junction-related biomarkers
Further Information
http://www.dfg.de/foerderung/info_wissenschaft/info_wissenschaft_17_84/index.html