Intercellular and Interorganellar Transfer and Communication in Biology and Medicine

This volume covers recent developments on the role, composition, and functional significance of intercellular and interorganellar transfer. It highlights the involvement of intercellular and interorganellar transfer in cell and developmental biology, differentiation, pathogen dissemination, shaping the genetic makeup of organisms, and the development of various diseases.

Animals and plants evolved different communication mechanisms and transfer of molecules and organelles between cells and between organelles within the individual cells. Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) in animals, discovered as recently as 2004, and their functional equivalent in plants, plasmodesmata, discovered over 100 years ago, are the membranous bridges that mediate the transfer of organelles, membrane patches, vesicles, DNA/RNA, and different molecules between cells. In addition, there are other means of transfer and communication between the cells, such as cytonemes, airinames, extracellular vesicles (exosomes), and others. Variations in cytoskeletal composition, morphology, modality, and connected cells suggest that these structures play a role in development, establishment of cell fate, progenitor cell differentiation, cell reprogramming, ferroptosis, generation of cancer stem cells, and various diseases. The exchange of intact membrane patches (trogocytosis) between cells of the immune system may modify the immune response. Additionally, the transfer of genetic information between nucleus and organelles and cells of different species can shape the species and evolutionary outcome. Viral and bacterial pathogens can hijack the inter-cellular transfer routes to spread more efficiently. Cell-to-cell transfer of animal and plant pathogens can also occur by the virological synapse (VS). These specialized pathogen-induced structures share similarities and differences with neurological and immunological synapses.

Dr. Malgorzata Kloc: Prior to completing her postdoctoral training in Canada, Dr. Kloc was a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Warsaw, Poland. She also served as a Research Associate in the Department of Biology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. While completing her postdoctoral training, Dr. Kloc earned the AHFMR Research Award from the University of Calgary and the MRC Biotechnology Training Award from Dalhousie University. She joined the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center as a Research Scientist in the Department of Molecular Genetics in 1987, and became an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology there in 2006. Dr. Kloc joined the Houston Methodist Research Institute in 2008. Currently, Dr. Kloc is the Weill Cornell Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at The Houston Methodist Hospital and the Adjunct Professor at Department of Genetics, University ofTexas, M D Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr. Jacek Z. Kubiak is the Research Director (Professor) at the French National Research Institute CNRS in Rennes, France. His research is devoted to molecular mechanisms of early embryo development, cell cycle regulation, stem cells, cancer cells and the role of macrophages in the innate immune response. He is the author of over 180 highly cited scientific articles and the editor or co-editor of 10 books. He has graduated from the Warsaw University, Poland and worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, USA and in Jacques Monod Institute in Paris, France. He collaborates with research institute WIM-PIB in Warsaw, Poland combining stem cells, wound healing and cancer research with the prospective in medical applications. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, he co-ordinates an international research group focused on SARS-CoV-2 infection in paediatric patients and he follows up this research field.

Marta Halasa earned her PhD in medical and health science from the Medical University of Lublin, Poland, in 2022. Her research during her doctoral studies focused on epigenetic modifiers, particularly histone deacetylases, and their impact on cancer progression and metastasis. During her PhD, she completed a long-term internship at the University of Turku, Finland, where she gained expertise in 3D cell techniques. She also undertook an internal internship at the Military Institute of Medicine in Warsaw, Poland, where she investigated cell-gene therapy in Alzheimer's disease. After completing her PhD, she obtained a postdoctoral fellow position at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, USA. Currently, her research focuses on investigating the role of macrophages in chronic transplant rejection.