McGill University
Gergely L Lukacs MD, PhD is a Distinguished James McGill Professor of Physiology and Biochemistry and has been a Canada Research Chair in Cystic Fibrosis and Conformational Diseases at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He received his degrees at the Semmelweis Medical School, Budapest, and postdoctoral training at the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Yale Medical School, and at the University of Toronto and Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute.
Research Field: The molecular cellular physiology and pharmacology of cystic fibrosis (CF) and other conformational diseases, as well as protein quality control of plasma membrane proteins. CF has been a major area of research of Lukacs during the past 25 years. Using a combination of cellular, biochemical, biophysical, molecular biological and optical technique the Lukacs lab has made important contributions to the understanding of the wild-type and mutant CFTR domain assembly, folding, misfolding and endocytic trafficking and has elucidated a peripheral protein quality control (QC) mechanism that accounts for the premature disposal of CFTR variants from the cell surface (e.g.: Science 2010, Nature Communications 2017, Dev Cell 2018). This process limits the efficiency of pharmacophores in CF and contributes to the pathogenesis of CF, as well as other conformational diseases (e.g.: LQT2 syndrome, MLC, diabetes insipidus). As a member of the CF Folding Consortium the Lukacs lab has formulated a novel model for CFTR misfolding, invoking that the mutation induces multiple, independently correctable structural defect in CFTR, which served to design second-generation HTS assays, as well as identify rationale combination correctors and potentiators for rescuing CFTR mutant variants folding and functional defects (Cell 2021, Nature Chemical Biol 2013, Nature Medicine 2018). The Lukacs lab continues to focus on elucidating mechanistic aspects of rare conformational diseases of ABC transporters with similar architecture than CFTR by implementing novel biochemical and biophysical assays that will enable to design rational therapeutic interventions.
Friday, November 4, 2022
3:30 PM – 5:30 PM ET