IBMB Seminar, Friday, September 30th. 10:00 AM | ESTEBAN HOIJMAN, PHD

Date / Time: Friday, September 30th, 10:00 AM | Fèlix Serratosa Conference room | 30|09|2022

Speaker: Dr. Esteban Hoijman.

Group leader, IDIBELL

Serra Hunter Lecturer, University of Barcelona, Spain

Title: “Quantitative live imaging across biological scales: stem cell surveillance by epithelial tissues”

Fèlix Serratosa Conference room. Please, members of IBMB, check your mailbox.

Keywords: Live embryo microscopy, Epithelial biology, Stem cells, Phagocytosis, Cytoskeleton dynamics

Abstract: Epithelial tissues are essential for clearance of defective cells in pathological and homeostatic conditions. Performing quantitative live imaging of zebrafish and mouse embryos at different biological scales, we revealed a tissue clearance program important for embryo survival, that facilitates the correction of errors in early development (Nature 2021). We showed that the surface epithelium of the early embryo eliminates apoptotic stem cells by phagocytic uptake, using similar mechanisms to immune cells. This process involves cellular protrusions that cooperate mechanically to optimize tissue clearance efficiency. We found that the first tissue formed in development has a protective role for embryonic stem cells, and represents a useful model to explore the dynamics of epithelial phagocytosis in its natural context.

Biosketch: Esteban Hoijman obtained his PhD in University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, working in epithelial apoptosis during mammary gland development. After a research stay to specialize in mechanobiology using zebrafish models at the Hubrecht Institute (Utrecth, The Netherlands), he performed two postdoctoral stays in Barcelona. At University Pompeu Fabra he studied epithelial morphogenesis and neurogenesis by quantitative microscopy (Nat comm and eLife, 2015 and 2017). At the Centre for Genomic Regulation, he explored the dynamics of epithelial phagocytosis in live embryos (Nature 2021). Recently he became group leader of the “Embryonic Cell Bioimaging lab” at IDIBELL and Lecturer at University of Barcelona. He is now studying the mechanisms that protect the embryo before the formation of the immune system, using quantitative live imaging of embryos, self-organizing embryoids and organoids.