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Bernadette Holdener, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biochemistry.
Funding through the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences.
Figure 1. mesd is required for cell
differentiation. Comparison of Oct4 expression in wild-type
embryos (left) and mesd mutant embryos (center). Oct4 is a transcription
factor expressed in undifferentiated cells. At embryonic day
8.5, Oct4 is turned off in the wt embryos but continues to be
expressed in the undifferentiated epiblast of mesd mutant embryos.
Flag-tagged mesd protein is localized in the nucleoplasm of
fibroblast cells (right). |
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My laboratory's research focuses on the regulation of growth and differentiation
in the mammalian embryo. Projects in the laboratory investigate the development
of the hypothalamus neuroendocrine cell lineage, patterning of the great
vessels, and the establishment of the basic body plan of the embryo. Recently,
we identified a novel nuclear protein (mesd) that is essential for differentiation
of tissues required for organ development (Figure 1). The engineering
and/or physical sciences student will be introduced to the genetic regulation
of mammalian development and have a unique opportunity to study the physical
and biological properties of the novel mesd protein.
In order to begin to understand the physical properties of this novel
protein, the student will help to purify the mesd protein using a bacterial
expression system and prepare crystals for X-ray crystallography. To address
the biological properties of this protein, the student will be involved
in the design and construction of dominant-negative versions of this protein
and have the opportunity to assay the biological function of these molecules
in Xenopus embryos. The expertise an IBRP student brings in the physical
sciences or computational modeling will be a valuable asset to the success
of this project. Biological methods include: standard molecular biology,
expression and purification of proteins, design and construction of dominant-negative
proteins, quantitative reverse transcription-PCR, in situ hybridization,
and 3-D modeling of embryos.
Contact Information
email: holdener@life.bio.sunysb.edu
url: http://www.sunysb.edu/biochem/BIOCHEM/facultypages/holdener/index.html
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