Dr Shukry J. Habib
Friday 24 th
October, 1pm
ABSTRACT
Developmental signals, such as Wnts, are often presented to cells in a local manner. Wnts can induce different types of cellular responses, and these may depend on how cells read both the level and direction of the signal. To ask whether a local Wnt signal can influence asymmetric divisions of stem cells, I immobilized Wnt proteins and Wnt inhibitors on beads and applied these to embryonic stem (ES) cells. At the single cell level, the Wnt-bead induces asymmetric distribution of Wnt/ß-catenin signaling components, orients the plane of mitotic division and directs asymmetric inheritance of centrosomes. Significantly, before cytokinesis is completed, the Wnt-proximal daughter cell expresses high levels of nuclear ßcatenin and pluripotency genes, whereas the distal daughter cell acquires hallmarks of differentiation. Blocking Wnt signaling locally produces asymmetric cell fates in the opposite manner. We suggest that a spatially restricted Wnt signal can induce an oriented cell division that generates distinct cell fates at predictable positions relative to the Wnt source
BIOSKETCH
Shukry Habib pursued his undergraduate studies in biology at the Technion in Israel. He received his Master’s degree in Biochemistry from Tel Aviv University in Israel under the supervision of Prof. Abdussalam Azem. Shukry completed his graduate doctorate studies
(Dr. rer. nat) in Biochemistry under the supervision of Prof. Walter Neupert and Prof. Doron
Rapaport at the Institute of Physiological Chemistry, LMU in Munich, Germany. His graduate studies focused on the biogenesis of mitochondrial membrane proteins. Shukry became a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Prof. Roel Nusse at Stanford University, California. There, incorporating advanced imaging techniques and bioengineering, he established a novel system to study asymmetric cell division of mammalian stem cells. During this project,
Shukry joined the Janelia (HHMI) visitor program and worked together with Dr. Eric Betzig’s group to visualize cell division at super-resolution under real time. Currently Shukry is a principal investigator at the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at King's college London.
Shukry has received numerous awards and honors including: Minerva fellowship (Max-Plank
Society), EMBO fellowship, DFG fellowship and Siebel scholar. Recently he was awarded the
Sir Henry Dale fellowship (Wellcome Trust and Royal Society, UK), one of the most prestigious awards for young investigators.