题    目: Drifting of a genetic toggle switch involved in key developmental decisions underlies aging across human tissues
报告人: Dr. Hao Li
Proferssor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics & Director of the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging,
University of California, San Francisco
时  间: 9月22日（周一）13:00-14:00
地    点: 吕志和楼B101
主持人: 来鲁华 教授

摘要:
Aging is often regarded as the last chapter of development. Here I describe the identification of a genetic toggle switch that links development to aging across human tissues. Using a human fibroblast replicative aging model and systematic perturbation analysis, we identified a genetic toggle switch that is widely used in different tissues/organs to choose between proliferative state and non-proliferative but functionally specialized state during development. During aging, this switch becomes ambiguous and cells drift away from the initial state established at young age. Since toggle switches are widely used in development for cell fate decisions, we suggest that ambiguation of these switches and the consequent loss of cell identify may be a main driving force for aging across tissues.  We hypothesize that loss of appropriate repression established during development can be the upstream cause for the ambiguation of these switches, and such loss of repression maybe caused by degeneration of epigenetic mechanisms for gene silencing.

报告人简介：

Dr. Hao Li is a Professor in the Dept. of Biochemistry and Biophysics & the Director of the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging at the University of California, San Francisco. He is also an investigator of the Chan & Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco. He received his BS in Physics from Peking University and Ph.D. in theoretical physics from MIT. His current research focuses on molecular mechanisms of aging and rejuvenation, systems biology, and human genetics.