Charles Institute Seminar Series 2022-23: Diving into Stem Cell Niche & Catching Hair Cycle Wave with Guest Speaker Prof Maksim Plikus
Date of Talk: Wednesday 1st February 2023@2PM
Location: Charles Seminar Room / Online Via Zoom
Talk Title: Diving into Stem Cell Niche & Catching Hair Cycle Wave
Speaker Details: Prof Maksim Plikus PhD
Department of Developmental & Cell Biology
University of California in Irvine
Short Biography: Dr. Plikus received his BSc in 2000 in Belarus before emigrating to the US to study a Ph.D. degree in Pathology from the University of Southern California, where he worked with Dr Cheng-Ming Chuong and carried out studies on the mechanism of hair stem cell regeneration. He did his postdoctoral training with Dr George Cotsarelis at the University of Pennsylvania to work on wound regeneration, before returning to California in 2012 to take up an appointment at UCI, where he is currently a professor in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology at the University of California, Irvine. His work has generated wound healing and hair growth patents and he is Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Amplifica Inc.
Dr Plikus has published approximately 100 peer-reviewed articles in leading scientific journals including Nature, Science, Cell and PNAS.
Abstract for talk: Hair follicle stem cells are regulated by dermal papilla fibroblasts; their principal signaling niche. Overactivation of Hedgehog signaling in the niche dramatically accelerates hair growth and induces hair follicle multiplication in mice. These cells engages in the activation of networks for multiple hair morphogenesis and hair-growth-related pathways. Among these is non-conventional TGF-β ligand Scube3. Scube3 is expressed only in dermal papillae of growing, but not resting follicles and its microinjection is sufficient to induce new hair growth. Here I will discuss how Hedgehog regulates mesenchymal niche function in the hair follicle via SCUBE3/TGF-β mechanism.
