Information transmission and processing in cells. Intracellular calcium signals and their interaction with other signaling cascades

SILVINA PONCE DAWSON

Otro; Escola sobre Biologia de Sistemas; 2010

Cells, the basic units of life, are constantly interacting with their environment, exchanging information that is processed and acted upon. In this series of lectures I will describe some of the ways in which this information flow occurs. I will start with a brief description of cell structure with special emphasis on those components that are involved in information processing introducing the concept of signaling cascade. I will then focus on Ca2+ signals, a type of signaling mechanism that is used in almost all cell types to produce a large variety of end responses. I will concentrate on a particular example (synaptic plasticity) in which Ca2+ signals are involved discussing the processes that shape them and the way they interact with other components of the cascade. I will show how a combination of different types of experiments and modeling can lead to a more comprehensive understanding of cell signals in general and of Ca2+ signals in particular.