凯瑟琳丹科特
Assistant Professor
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
McGovern Medical School
综合生物学和药理学系
The G1 phase of the cell cycle is a critical period during which cells decide whether to proliferate or stay quiescent, depending on molecular checkpoints. Human tumors frequently have alterations in cell cycle regulators that normally control progression through G1. Therefore, understanding how deregulated G1 cell cycle signaling pathways lead to tumor progression and metastasis is critical for the design of advanced therapeutic strategies. One of our research interests is to study the role of p27kip1 in cell migration and metastasis. p27Kip1 is a Cdk Inhibitor (CKI) that localizes to the nucleus of normal healthy cells. However, p27Kip1 is often found relocalized to the cytoplasm in some aggressive, metastatic malignancies such as breast cancer. We demonstrated that in the cytoplasm, p27kip1 induces cell migration and promotes metastasis. Our goal is to elucidate the mechanism by which cytoplasmic p27kip1 regulates these processes during breast cancer progression.
We are also studying the interconnection between cell growth and cell division during the G1/S progression of the mammalian cell cycle. Cell growth and division are two highly coordinated processes where a cell must reach a critical size before division can occur. Studies in the budding yeast S. cerevisiae revealed that a critical cell size or “check-point” is required for progression through Start, the equivalent of the mammalian Restriction point in late G1. Cell growth requires an increase in the production of ribosomes to carry out protein synthesis necessary for this increase in cell mass. Pathways controlling various aspects of ribosome biogenesis have recently been linked to cell cycle regulation and cell-size control. Moreover, many proteins often found deregulated in cancer have been linked to ribosome biogenesis suggesting that they could be key therapeutic targets in the treatment of this disease.
我们的实验室在体外和体内使用方法来剖析如何解毒的细胞周期信号通路如何导致癌症。我实验室的教程将提供基本细胞和分子生物学技术的经验，以及乳腺上皮细胞转移和3D培养的小鼠模型。
教育和培训
博士- 蒙特利尔大学 - 2003年