Presenter

Bo Lv, Ph.D.
Cell Biologist, University of Pittsburgh

Café Sci – The Double Life of STING: How an Innate Immune Guardian Fights Pathogens and Relieves Cellular Stresses

When cells find DNA where it shouldn't be, they turn on a defense system called cGAS-STING. This system not only causes inflammation to fight off invaders but also helps cells make more lysosomes. Lysosomes are like the cell's recycling centers, breaking down waste and harmful microbes. In this talk, Bo explains how this new discovery might help cells survive in aging and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, offering new treatment possibilities.

About Bo Lv

Bo Lv is a cell biologist working on ciliary signaling and the innate immune cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS)–stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway. He received his B.Sc. in Biotechnology from Wuhan University of Technology in 2011 and his Ph.D. in 2017 from the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences where he was studying the assembly of Chlamydomonas flagella/cilia. He then joined Gregory Pazour lab at Program in Molecular Medicine/UMass Chan Medical School in Massachusetts, where he used CRISPR screening to identify E3 ligases that regulate cilia-mediated Hedgehog signaling. After that, he joined the Aging Institute in University of Pittsburgh/UPMC to explore the non-canonical functions of the innate immune cGAS-STING pathway.

Register for Café Sci

The event is FREE to attend onsite and virtually, but preregistration is required! Carnegie Science Center would like to continue to offer programs like Café Sci, Women in STEM, and others. Please consider making a donation when you register. Once you sign up, you’ll get an email confirmation. Have a question for Bo? You’ll be able to type your questions in the Q&A section during the presentation!