Laboratory Simona Saccani

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The Nuclear Factor kappa B (NF-kB) is a family of transcription factors that play a crucial role in regulating a number of genes controlling the immune system, apoptosis, cell growth and tissue differentiation. NF-kB exists in most vertebrate cell types as a combination of five structurally related Rel/NF-kB proteins which, in order to function, must associate in homo- and hetero-dimeric forms. NF-kBs dimers are retained in the cytoplasm by interaction with IkBs. Upon activation, the IkB proteins are phosphorylated and targeted for proteasomal degradation; the NF-kB dimers are then free to translocate into the nucleus, bind to target sequences (termed kB sites) in the promoters of several genes, and activate transcription. In vitro studies have shown that the different NF-kB dimers have almost the same ability to bind any given kB site; however in vivo there are cases in which the different kB sites are bound preferentially by specific NF-kB dimers and with higher affinity than others. While the basic mechanisms of NF-kB-mediated gene activation are relatively well studied, very little is understood at the molecular level about how promoter and cellular specificity is achieved. Depending on the cell type and the stimulus, each NF-kB dimer has been shown to regulate specific targets, even though some genes respond to several NF-kB species in a redundant fashion.


Group Leader

Simona Saccani
phone: -713/716

saccani@ie-freiburg.mpg.de

1968
Born in Milan, Italy
Undergraduate Studies in Biology at University of Milan, and Institute of Pharmacological Research "Mario Negri", Milan, Italy

1995-1997
PhD studies at the Institute of Pharmacological Research "Mario Negri", Milan, Italy.

1997-2000
Postdoctoral Fellow at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey USA

2000-2005
Postdoctaral fellow at IRB, Bellinzona, Switzerland

Since 2005
Group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany

 

Project Areas

  • Molecular Mechanisms of Gene Regulation

    Molecular Mechanisms of Gene Regulation

    The NF-kB family of transcription factors as a paradigm to understand the molecular basis of transcriptional specificity. The Saccani lab studies the molecular...

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  • Mechanisms underlying differing responses to NF-kB activation between cell types

    Mechanisms underlying differing responses to NF-kB activation between cell types

    It is the interest of the lab to understand the roles of the NF-kB subunits within different cell types (i.e. fibroblasts versus DCs or macrophages).

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Recent Publications

Group Members