January 10 at 5 pm (Lisbon Time)
Chair: Ana Magalhães
Title: Deciphering and targeting GD2 ganglioside O-acetylation pathways in neuroectoderm-derived cancers
Sophie Groux-Degroote is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Structural and Functional Glycobiology Unit of the University of Lille, France. She obtained her Ph.D. (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) in 1999 from the University of Lille. After a postdoctoral research period in Gerrit van Meer’s Laboratory (at Academic Medical Center of Amsterdam and then at the Department of Biomembranes, Utrecht University), she became an assistant Professor at the Structural and Functional Glycobiology Unit of the University of Lille, France. Her research interests focus on the regulation of terminal glycosylation in cancer and inflammatory diseases. She uses biochemical and cellular approaches to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the glycosylation abnormalities associated with pathologies. These approaches include: (1) analytical methods for the expression of glycan motifs associated with pathologies, (2) a broad range of cell biological, biochemical and molecular biological techniques to study the different levels of regulation of glycosyltransferases (3) the use of in vitro and in vivo models to analyze the impact of glycosylation abnormalities on cell biology, with the aim of developing new therapeutic approaches. She has deciphered the transcriptional mechanisms and signaling pathways involved in TNF-induced sialyl Lewis x antigen overexpression in human bronchial mucosa, which is responsible for Pseudomonas aeruginosa adhesion in the respiratory tract of CF patients. She has contributed to understanding the down-regulation of the Sda antigen expression in colon cancer, with numerous studies on the regulation of glycosyltransferase B4GALNT2. Her team now works on the biosynthesis and biological roles of O-acetylated gangliosides in cancers. Current studies are focused on the biosynthesis and functions of OAcGD2 ganglioside in breast cancer, osteosarcoma and glioblastoma, and on the identification of new O-acetylated gangliosides in tumors, which could be used as markers or therapeutic targets. Since 2020, she is a member of the HarvardProTG program (the Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School career development program in Translational Glycobiology) and of the International Research Network between UGSF and iGCORE (Universities of Nagoya and Gifu, Japan).
Chair: Ana Magalhães
Title: Deciphering and targeting GD2 ganglioside O-acetylation pathways in neuroectoderm-derived cancers