Organic Chemistry Seminar: Professor Gustavo Silva, Duke University

Organic Chemistry Seminar: Professor Gustavo Silva, Duke University (Host: Laura Dassama)

About the Seminar

"A new pathway of redox control of translation by ubiquitin"

 Oxidative stress is one of the most prevalent types of environmental stresses and underlies the development and progression of many diseases. In response to oxidative stress, protein ubiquitination regulates a multitude of cellular processes, from protein degradation to the control of protein synthesis. The Silva lab investigates how the distinct roles played by ubiquitin control gene expression, protein dynamics, and ultimately cellular resistance to stress. He will discuss how reactive oxygen species regulate the function of ubiquitin enzymes in the pathway of Redox control of Translation by Ubiquitin (RTU). Using a combination of cellular, proteomics, and structural biology, his lab showed that a unique type of ubiquitin chain (K63-linked polyubiquitin chain) modifies ribosomes, controls translation, and supports cellular tolerance stress.

About the Speaker

 Dr. Gustavo Silva earned his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of São Paulo, followed by a post-doctoral training at New York University, where he held a joint position as the Proteomics Core Manager in the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology. Dr. Silva joined the faculty ranks at Duke University in 2017 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology. His lab studies ubiquitin signaling and the regulation of protein synthesis as a new tool to modulate cellular response to stress. Among other awards, Dr. Silva is a recipient NIH K99/R00 award and his current research is also supported by a NIH R35 MIRA award. Dr. Silva is an advocate for inclusion, equity, and transformation in higher education, serving as a member of the Minority Affairs Committee in the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), as ambassador for the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), and as co-founder and director of the Black Think Tank, an initiative to promote the advancement of black faculty at Duke.

Photo courtesy of Megan Mendenhall.