Tony Pawson

Bio: Dr. Tony Pawson is the Director of Research at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto. In addition, Dr. Pawson is a University Professor at the University of Toronto, a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Canada, and a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences. He performed his graduate work at the ICRF working on retroviral gene expression, and received his PhD from King's College London in 1976. Before joining the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in 1985, Dr. Pawson did postdoctoral work in Berkeley, California alongside Steven Martin, as well as held a position of Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia. His current research on modular protein-protein interactions has been recognized by a number of awards, most recently the Louisa Gross Horwtiz Prize, the Wolf Prize, and the Royal Medal of the Royal Society.

Talk Title: Regulated Protein-Protein Interactions and Biological Complexity

Abstract: Many aspects of cellular organization are regulated by modular protein domains, which represent a common feature of human polypeptides, and frequently mediate specific molecular interactions. Such interaction domains play a central role in dynamic cellular behavior, through their ability to selectively recognize sites of post-translational modification, such as protein phosphorylation. Interaction domains can also regulate the enzymatic activity, substrate specificity and localization of signaling proteins, and control the formation of multi-protein complexes and extended biological networks. Interaction domains therefore provide a general framework with which to explore the molecular mechanisms of cellular control. I will use specific adaptor proteins as a tool to investigate the range of biological functions mediated by modular protein interactions. I will also discuss the analysis of large protein-interaction datasets, and the role of aberrant interactions in human disease.