NEXT TALK: Next talk 31st of October, 7pm - Sesonal mood disorders
Cittie Of Yorke, 22 High Holborn, WC1V 6BN
All creatures great and small
Tuesday, 29th of March 2016
A podcast of this talk by KEWO Science is available here: https://youtu.be/SRV7JpO2890
"Ever wondered why we humans are human-sized and not mouse or elephant-sized? Or why our right and left arms are roughly the same size whereas fiddler crabs have a massive claw and a tiny one. Animal size control is a fascinating topic: how can our cells know when to stop growing and dividing at the end of development, and just as importantly, how can we stay (more or less!) the same size throughout our adult lives even though our cells constantly become damaged and have to be replaced with new ones? If we can understand and harness growth control, not only can we stop cancer (uncontrolled growth) from developing, but we can also help our organs regenerate, leading to longer, healthier lives.
My lab investigates the question of size control in fruit flies, and we’ll discuss some findings from that organism, as well as what we know about how size is regulated in more complex organisms like newts, dogs and people."
Nic Tapon was born in France and did his Bachelor’s in Biochemistry at Imperial College London, then his PhD at University College London. During a postdoc stint in Boston, he became interested in growth control and started using the fruit fly as a model organism. He established his lab at Cancer Research UK London Research institute in 2003 and is moving to the Francis Crick Institute near St Pancras in August 2016.
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