Talk by Prof. Dr. Rudi Balling as part of our "Distinguished Speaker Series"

On Wednesday, June 12, 2019, Prof. Dr. Rudi Balling (Luxemburg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB)) will give a talk as part of the colloquium series of the CBI in SS 2019. The talk is entitled "The pathogenesis of chronic diseases: Common mechanisms at play?" and will be held at the Center for Bioinformatics (CBI), building E2 1, lecture room 001, ground floor at 17:00 am (s.t.)

Abstract:

Many of the chronic, age related diseases such as cancer, metabolic or neurodegenerative diseases share certain hallmarks. These include evidence for mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammatory signatures or disturbances in proteostasis or secretory function. We have obtained evidence for a key role of DJ-1, a familial Parkinson’s disease gene, as a regulator of the enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), influencing the ability of a cell to switch between glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation. Based on the central nature of this switch in cellular and energy metabolism I will present a hypothesis and potential explanation for the concomitant increase in the prevalence of different chronic diseases and their comorbidities, including neuropsychiatric diseases.