2012
This year brings changes. I have been applying for new grants and hopefully one of my projects will receive a green light. In general, I will continue working on molecular mechanisms and evolution of inflammation and related immune processes.
This year a research project, which started over ten years ago, has finally reached its completion. I was a part of it in 2002-2003, while I was an MSc student in Moscow. The lab I was in at that time stumbled upon a protein called fibulin-5, which, as our study revealed, acts as a molecular link between two other notorious proteins – urokinase and integrins – to regulate cell migration and, on a bigger scale, tissue remodelling in our organisms.
Overall, this study shows how extracellular matrix proteins can contribute to cell signalling. What does it mean for non-scientists? Deregulated cell migration is observed in cancer, atherosclerosis and other pathologies. Therefore, interfering with matrix-cell interactions such as the ones newly described in our study is a promising therapeutic avenue.