check
Biological Physics Seminar: "Diffusion-consumption kinetics and localization in cytokine communication between T cells" | The Racah Institute of Physics

Biological Physics Seminar: "Diffusion-consumption kinetics and localization in cytokine communication between T cells"

Date: 
Thu, 31/03/201614:00-15:30
Location: 
Danciger B building, Seminar room
Lecturer: Prof. Oleg Krichevsky
Affiliation: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Abstract:
Cells of the immune system co-operate their
activity by secreting small proteins – cytokines.
The cytokines binding to their receptors on a
receiving cell causes a chain of signaling events
that determine the fate of the cell: its survival,
differentiation and proliferation. We argue that the
competition between cytokine diffusion and its
consumption by a receiving cell sets a
characteristic length that defines the spatial extent
of cytokine communication.
On the example of interleukin-2 cytokine we
demonstrate both in vitro and in vivo that the
cytokine fields can be localized to the vicinity of
the secreting cell, and we find that a simple
diffusion/consumption mechanism provides an
adequate explanation for such localization.