Biochemistry Seminar: Olga Boudker, "Dynamics and evolution of glutamate transporters"
Olga Boudker, Professor, Physiology & Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, will give a talk titled, "Dynamics and evolution of glutamate transporters."
This seminar will also be available by Zoom. Zoom link: ; Meeting ID 916 0707 4885. Passcode: ASRCccny
Please note:
* Full names must be used to be admitted to the Zoom meeting.
* The Zoom meeting will be closed and locked at 12:15 p.m., and no one will be able to enter the meeting after that time.
ABSTRACT
Glutamate transporters in the human brain remove the neurotransmitter glutamate from the synaptic cleft, enabling repeated cycles of neurotransmission and preventing glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. These transporters are ancient proteins that, in prokaryotes, serve to import amino acids as nutrient sources from the environment. Across evolution, glutamate transporters have diversified to meet distinct physiological demands, adapting to use different ion gradients as energy sources, to recognize various amino acid substrates, and to operate at different kinetic rates. I will discuss our recent insights into the structural and dynamic bases of these adaptations and how they inform strategies for developing improved therapeutics targeting neurotransmitter transporters.