Quantitative Cell Biology

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Over decades of research, numerous negative and positive regulators of signal transduction have been identified.?What remains less clear is how these negative and positive regulators converge to specify specific values and magnitudes??In 1975, Nurse and Hartwell postulated that the size of animal cells is determined by cell size checkpoints - molecular mechanisms that?sense cell size?to selectively promote the growth of cells that smaller than their target size. In 2018 - after a gap of almost 50 years - Dr. Kafri, a Canada Research Chair in Quantitative Cell Biology, has identified a molecular signal that is selectively activated in cells that are smaller than `appropriate'. Dr. Kafri's work represents the first molecular mechanism of?size sensing?to have ever been reported in animal cells.? Quantitative phenotypes are not limited to cell size. Just as checkpoint mechanisms function to specify a different and specific cell size for each of the different cell types, there must also be mechanisms that specify a different and specific lifespan value for each of the different mammalian species. How is it that a mouse dies of old age after two years of life while fruit bats live to the age of 40?? Dr. Kafri is aiming to decipher the molecular mechanisms that determine the quantitative phenotypes such as cell size and lifespan. mTORC1 signaling?is known to?promote cellular growth, accelerate aging and?cause?earlier?onset of age-dependent disease, including cancers. Using cutting-edge techniques such as high content screening and computational biology, Dr. Kafri will examine how positive and negative regulators of mTORC1 signaling influence the specific values associated with cell size and lifespan. The questions addressed by Dr. Kafri have a profound impact on human health. It is not age, but rather, age-related diseases that bring about the end of life. By identifying the mTORC1-dependent mechanisms that specify cell size and lifespan, he will identify new drug targets and exploit novel therapeutic approaches for the prevention of old age-related diseases, including the prevention of cancer.