“Mechanisms of Metabolic Adaptation: From Single Molecules to Systems Biology”

Presented by Dr. Carlo Barnaba, University of Kansas

ABSTRACT: Eukaryotic cells have evolved biological and biochemical strategies to overcome stressors such as nutrient deprivation and exposure to drugs and xenobiotics. Autophagy is a cellular catabolic pathway associated with stress response and several chronic human diseases. Despite this, our understanding of how nutrient deprivation and xenobiotics trigger autophagy in humans remains limited. Our unique quantitative framework integrates CRISPR genome editing, single-particle live-cell imaging, and computational biology to investigate the impact of small molecules and nutrient deprivation on autophagy flux. In this talk, I will delve into the development and application of this platform, specifically designed for quantitatively measuring autophagy flux in a cancer cell model. This interdisciplinary approach holds significant promise for advancing drug discovery by shedding light on how drug interventions influence cellular stress responses and disease outcomes at the molecular level, which can inform the development of more effective therapeutic interventions.

SHORT BIO: Dr. Barnaba received his B.Sc./M.Sc. from the Universita’ degli Studi di Parma (Italy), and earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry at Washington State University, where he employed single-molecule fluorescence to study the assembly of drug metabolizers cytochrome P450s. He subsequently joined the Dept. of Chemistry at the University of Michigan, where he pioneered lipid nanodiscs to determine the effects of membrane microenvironment in cytochrome P450's catalysis. Between 2019-2023, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering at Michigan State University, studying human autophagy mechanisms by combining genome-editing techniques and single-particle live-cell imaging. Since November 2023 he has been an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Kansas.