HSF1 and Molecular Chaperones in Biology and Cancer

Dr. Ruth Scherz-Shouval is the daughter of Prof. Avigdor Scherz, a pioneer in the field of photo-dynamic therapy in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the Weizmann Institute. She earned a BSc in the life sciences with honors at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2002 and a PhD in biological chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science in 2008 (with Prof. Zvulun Elazar). She conducted postdoctoral research in Prof. Moshe Oren's laboratory at the Weizmann Institute and at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and will join the Weizmann Institute's Department of Biological Chemistry in October 2015. Dr. Marc Mendillo is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the Northwestern University. His PhD was obtained from the University Of California-San Diego in Biomedical Sciences followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in San Diego and another at the Whitehead Institute. Currently, he runs a lab in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. David Pincus is a fellow at the Whitehead Institute where he tries to reveal the underlying mechanisms cells employ to maintain homeostasis in inherently fluctuating environments.

Preface: Dedication to Susan Lindquist.- Part I: Structure.- Structural and Biochemical properties of Hsp40/Hsp70 chaperone system.- The TRiC/CCT chaperonin and its role in uncontrolled proliferation.- Regulation of Hsf1 and the heat shock response.- Part II: Function.- Challenging proteostasis: Role of the chaperone network to control aggregation-prone proteins in human disease.- The multifaceted role of HSF1 in tumorigenesis.- Chaperome networks - redundancy and implications for cancer treatment.- Chaperones in the tumor microenvironment.- The impact of the ER unfolded protein response on cancer initiation and progression: Therapeutic implications.- Part III: Therapies.- The right tool for the job: an overview of Hsp90 inhibitors.- Lessons learned from proteasome inhibitors, the paradigm for targeting protein homeostasis in cancer.- Reflections and outlook on targeting HSP90, HSP70 and HSF1 in cancer: A personal perspective.