FAU own research funding: EFI / IZKF / EAM ...
Acronym: CYDER
Start date : 01.01.2014
End date : 31.12.2015
Extension date: 31.12.2017
The cell cycle is a tightly regulated series of events that governs cell proliferation. Aberrations in cell cycle regulation underlie cancer biogenesis. Further, although not explicitly considered cell cycle-related diseases, heart disease, kidney disease, and Alzheimer's disease, represent a number of incurable illnesses associated with cell cycle activity in non-proliferative cell-types. Thus, understanding cell cycle regulation is of great importance to human health. Great advances have been made into the basic mechanisms that regulate the cell cycle. However, the story is far from complete as different cell-types, in different tissues, at different stages of differentiation, and under various disease states, can exhibit nuances with regard to cell cycle regulation. The goal of CYDER, an international interdisciplinary consortium of cell cycle experts, is to foster discovery in how the cell cycle is regulated in associated diseases. CYDER aims to achieve this by i) characterization of cell cycle regulation across a variety of developmental and disease models, ii) conducting comparative analysis, iii) application of this knowledge to elucidate novel basic cell cycle regulatory mechanisms. Ultimately, through these efforts, CYDER aims to identify common cell cycle related paradigms between seemingly disparate disease states to accelerate discovery of new preventions, treatments and cures. For instance, cardiomyocytes and podocytes represent post-mitotic cell-types that rarely undergo neoplastic transformation. Understanding how these functionally-distinct cell-types differentiate and maintain their post-mitotic state may provide novel cell cycle regulation paradigms, promote general regenerative strategies, as well as produce novel therapeutic targets to treat cancer.