Integrated Calendar

Drug resistance is a major barrier in medical oncology. Refractoriness to anti-cancer therapies is attributed to autonomous-tumor cell survival signaling (intrinsic mechanisms) or is mediated by growth factors secreted by cells in the tumor microenvironment (extrinsic mechanisms). Here I will describe the transcriptional machineries that regulate the expression of receptor tyrosine kinases following treatments with PI3K and EGFR therapies in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Specifically, I will show that AP-1 regulates AXL expression in PI3K-resistant cells, and EHF determines HER2/3 expression following EGFR inhibition.

For more information and assistance with Accessibility issues,
please contact
Rina Tzoref, Seminars Coordinator: li.tzoref@weizmann.ac.il
Batya Greenman: batya.greenman@weizmann.ac.il
Host
Prof. Yosef Yarden
08 934 4015
yosef.yarden@weizmann.ac.il
Breast cancer is a heterogeneous group of diseases, traditionally distinguished based on the
expression levels of three key receptors: Estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and Her2.
However extensive mRNA expression studies, and genomic studies show higher complexity of
classification and can further subdivide the tumors. In our work, we apply mass spectrometry-based
proteomics analysis and challenge the existing classification. Furthermore, we analyze the internal
tumor heterogeneity by dividing the tumors according to their histopathological parameters, and
identify the diversity of proteomic profiles within single tumors. Altogether, the proteomic approach
was able to unravel hidden layers within this complex disease.

Quantum physics allows for applications not possible within classical physics. A prominent example is the quantum computer that, once realized, needs a quantum communication environment – a quantum internet. With this in mind, the talk will discuss a unique toolbox for distributed quantum computation and quantum communication by means of photonic qubits that propagate between atomic quantum memories localized in optical resonators as quantum interfaces.

We are working on new strategies for self-assembly. Systems whose study is relatively advanced are the so-called cyclo[m]pyridine[n]pyrroles. These systems permit self-assembly via anion recognition. They also display substrate-dependent responsive features. This has made them of interest as sensor systems and functional materials whose ground and excited state properties may be “switched” through modulation of solvent, pH, and exposure to ionic and neutral analytes.
Complementing work on charged building blocks is the use of electron rich calix[4]pyrroles. Here, anion binding serves to switch the fundamental conformation of the core receptor so as to control self-assembly. This allows the production of monomers, capsules, and oligomers via the judicious choice of calix[4]pyrrole, anion, cation, solvent, and targeted substrate. It also permits control over charge transfer interactions and the construction of multi-state molecular logic devices. One of these has permitted inters-species "chemical communication".
Finally, a set of "Texas-size" box-like receptors has been created. These are permitting the chemistry of self-assembly and information storage to be extended into the realm of soft materials. Applications in the realm of water purification are also being explored.
This work was made possible by the dedicated efforts of many coworkers and collaborators who will be thanked during the presentation. Support from the U.S. National Science Foundation, US National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Energy, and the Robert A. Welch Foundation is acknowledged. Funding has also come from Shanghai University.

What does it feel like to be a bat? Is conscious experience of echolocation closer to that of vision or audition? Or, echolocation is non-conscious processing and it doesn't feel anything? This famous question of bats' experience, posed by a philosopher Thomas Nagel in 1974, clarifies the difficult nature of the mind-body problem. Why a particular sense, such as vision, has to feel like vision, but not like audition, is puzzling. This is especially so given that any conscious experience is supported by neuronal activity. Activity of a single neuron appears fairly uniform across modalities, and even similar to those for non-conscious processing. Without any explanation on why a particular sense has to feel as the way it does, researchers even cannot approach the question of the bats' experience. Is there any theory that gives us a hope for such explanation? Currently, probably none, except for one. Integrated Information Theory (IIT), proposed by Tononi in 2004 has a potential to offer a plausible explanation. IIT essentially claims that any system that is composed of causally interacting mechanisms can have conscious experience. And precisely how the system feels like is determined by the way the mechanisms influence each other in a holistic way. In this talk, I will give a brief explanation of the essence of IIT and provide initial empirical partial tests of the theory, proposing a potential scientific pathway to approach bats' conscious experience. If IIT, or its improved or related versions, is validated enough, it will gain credibility to accept its prediction on rough nature of bats' experience. If we can gain a sophisticated insight as to whether bats' experience is closer to vision or audition, it is already a tremendously big step in consciousness science, which is just a first yet critical one, possibly a similar level of the breakthrough in cosmology in precisely estimating the age of the universe.
References:
0) talk slide: https://www.slideshare.net/NaoNaotsuguTsuchiya/17-june-20-empirical-test-of-iit-dresden
1) Andrew M. Haun, Masafumi Oizumi, Christopher K. Kovach, Hiroto Kawasaki, Hiroyuki Oya, Matthew A. Howard, Ralph Adolphs, Naotsugu Tsuchiya, (2017, accepted) “Conscious perception as integrated information patterns in human electrocorticography” eNeuro link
2) Tsuchiya “"What is it like to be a bat?" - a pathway to the answer from the Integrated Information Theory ” Philosophy Compass (2017) link
3) Oizumi M, Tsuchiya N, Amari S, “Unified framework for quantifying causality and integrated information in a dynamical system” (2016) PNAS link