Grant: Operating Grant

Damaged or unneeded cells in living beings have a normal process for elimination, called apoptosis. This normal cell death is programmed into each cell. However, the apoptosis programme can be activated by various cellular stresses thus leading to a wide variety of human ailments, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, liver disease, heat conditions, and diabetes. On the other hand, in certain cases a blockage in apoptosis can lead to cancer. Calnexin is a crucial protein that is vital for the normal function of the cell. Interestingly however, in recent years we have found that calnexin is also involved in apoptosis. Indeed, our experiments have directly demonstrated that calnexin controls the levels of cell death induced by different stress conditions. To investigate how calnexin is involved in apoptosis, we are using genetic approaches with a type of yeast that is a simple model to understand the biological functions of human cells. In a first place, the results from our investigation will provide important information to understand how apoptosis is induced by diverse stresses. The knowledge gained in this manner will serve to eventually treat the human diseases in which apoptosis is affected such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cancer. Moreover, there is an urgent need to treat hospital-acquired infections, which in general are caused by fungal pathogens. Our studies on apoptosis should also assist in designing drugs to induce death of fungal pathogens and thus combat hospital-acquired infections.