Abstract: Primary microcephaly is a severe brain malformation that leads to a lifelong range of impairments such as intellectual disability, motor, hearing and visual malfunctions. Microcephaly aetiologies vary from genetic abnormalities to external factors such as the STORCH infections (Syphilis, Toxoplasma, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus and Herpes virus). Recently, Zika virus (ZIKV) has been associated with microcephaly and other brain abnormalities; however, the molecular consequences of ZIKV to human brain development are still not fully understood. This talk aims to discuss the alterations in human brain organoids and neurospheres derived from induced pluripotent stem cells infected with ZIKV. Combining proteomics and mRNA transcriptional profiling, over 500 proteins and genes associated with ZIKV infection were found to be differentially expressed. These genes and proteins provide an interactome map, which indicates that ZIKV controls the expression of RNA processing bodies, miRNA biogenesis and splicing factors required for self-replication. It also suggests that impairments in the molecular pathways underpinning cell cycle and neuronal differentiation are caused by ZIKV. These results point to biological mechanisms implicated in brain malformations, which are important to further the understanding of ZIKV infection and can be exploited as therapeutic potential targets to mitigate it.

Please contact j.k.bains@warwick.ac.uk for zoom link and password.

Staff/students: Zoom details to be found here: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/staffintranet/divisions/bms/virtual_community

At this event, run by the University of Warwick's Ghost Town project, we will be showing the beautiful, newly restored BBC documentary, An Act of Faith, the first colour documentary made for British television. The film was first shown in 1962 on the occasion of the consecration of the new cathedral (and again on the opening night of the BBC2 colour television service in 1967). This copy has been restored with generous support from the Connecting Cultures GRP at University of Warwick by our project partners, the Media Archive of Central England.

Alongside this screening, we will be premiering new short films made in and about the Cathedral by local filmmakers, inspired by Robin Witworth's script and John Read's beautiful colour cinematography.

Free tickets can be booked here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/acts-of-faith-filming-coventry-cathedral-tickets-91305590479