Thesis supervisor: Csilla Csortos
Location of studies (in Hungarian): UD Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Medical Chemistry Abbreviation of location of studies: DEOVI
Description of the research topic:
The vascular endothelium serves as a selective barrier to fluid and solute flux across the blood vessel walls. Dephosphorylation of phosphoproteins by phospho-Ser/Thr-specific protein phosphatases is crucial in the regulation of endothelial barrier function. Our goal is to learn about the regulatory role of protein phosphatase (PP) 1 in endothelial barrier function in the lung and in the brain, through its regulatory/interacting protein partners. TIMAP (TGFβ-inhibited membrane associated protein), a member of the MYPT family of PP1 targeting subunits, is indeed a regulatory subunit of PP1. While MYPT1 has been extensively studied, much less is known about TIMAP. TGF-β represses TIMAP in endothelial cells, but TGF-β was also shown to be upregulated in the brain in multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, tumors, or trauma. Therefore, our research will be focused on the hypothesis that TIMAP, as a regulatory subunit of PP1, is an active participant in establishment/maintenance of the blood brain barrier. Besides, we aim to widen our knowledge on new protein partners of TIMAP in EC.
Required language skills: English intermediate level Number of students who can be accepted: 1