WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE

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Our laboratory is interested in understanding how cells move (cell motility) and adhere to one another (cell-cell adhesion). Our approaches to these problems are biochemical, and cell biological. Finally we use this information to analyze genetically modified mice, and primary cells derived from these mice. Over the past few years we have focused on a family of cytosolic LIM domain-containing proteins that exhibit regulated association with adhesion receptors and the cytoskeleton. As such they regulate cell motility and cell-cell adhesion. They also shuttle in/out of the nucleus where they can affect cell fate and proliferation. In the nucleus some of these LIM proteins interact with a family of transcriptional repressors (Snail and Slug) that control epithelial cell adhesion and migration during development, and the progression of local tumors to metastatic cancer in adults. Current work is directed at: (1) determining the mechanisms whereby these LIM proteins affect cell adhesion and cell motility, thereby, understanding the role of these proteins in epithelial cell biology; (2) the role these LIM proteins play in epithelial cell cancer progression/metastasis.

We have adapted an assay to purify lamellipodia from motile cells. We are in the process of identifying all component proteins, and their modifications, and then comparing lamellipodia protein profiles between cells derived from isogenic mice lacking specific gene(s) required for motility. To determine if lamellipodia function contributes to cancer cell invasion and metastasis we are also analyzing lamellipodia protein profiles from non-metastatic and metastatic cancer cells.

Ajuba is rapidly recruited to newly formed cell-cell contacts in keratinocytes From: Marie H, Pratt SJ, Betson M, Epple H, Kittler JT, Meek L, Moss SJ, Troyanovsky S, Attwell D, Longmore GD, Braga VM The LIM protein Ajuba is recruited to cadherin-dependent cell junctions through an association with alpha-catenin. J Biol Chem 2003 Jan 10;278(2):1220-8

Education

1973-1977	B.Sc. (Honours) Biochemistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario
1977-1979	M.Sc. Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
1979-1983	M.D., C.M. Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
1983-1990	Clinical Fellow, Internal Medicine and Hematology-Oncology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
1989-1993	Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Cell Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Academic Positions & Training

1977-1980	Predoctoral Student, Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Ontario (laboratory of Dr. Harry Schachter)
1983-1986	Clinical Fellow in Internal Medicine, Harvard Medical School, New England Deaconess Hospital (now Beth Israel-Deaconess Hospitals), Boston, MA
1985-1986	Visiting Scientist, Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (laboratory of Dr. Herman Eisen)
1987-1990	Clinical Fellow in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital (Hematology) and Dana Farber Cancer Institute (Medical Oncology), Boston, MA
1988-1992	Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (laboratory of Dr. Harvey Lodish)
1990-1992	Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
1992-1998	Assistant Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
1999-2008	Associate Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
2006-present	Director, Center for Cell Migration, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
2008-present	Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO

University & Hospital Appointments/Committees

1983	Curriculum Review Committee, McGill Medical School, Co-Chairperson
1986-1987	Institutional Review Board, New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston, MA
1993-1995	Compton Scholar Award for entering undergraduates, Natural Sciences and Liberal Arts, Washington University, St. Louis MO
1994-1998	Admissions Committee, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
1996-2000	Developmental Biology Steering Committee, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
1999-2001	Four Schools Program (Washington University, Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins University), Washington University representative
2003-present	Molecular Cell Biology Steering Committee, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO

Board Certification

1986	Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine
1989	Diplomate, American Board of Medical Oncology

Honors & Awards

1977-1979	Medical Research Council of Canada Studentship
1980-1981	Faculty Scholarship Award, Department of Medicine, McGill University
1984	James L. Tullis Award, Harvard Medical School
1988-1992	NIH Physician-Scientist Award AG00294, National Institutes of Health
1992-1995	Career Development Award, James S. McDonnell Foundation for Molecular Oncology
1998-1999	NIH Hematology II Study Section
1998-2001	Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation Scholar
1999-2003	Established Investigator, American Heart Association
2000	Elected member of American Society for Clinical Investigation
2001	Invited Visiting Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Helsinki, Finland
2004-2008	NIH/NCI-F Manpower and Training Study Section - member
2006-2008	American Cancer Society: Cell Structure and Metastasis Peer Review Committee – member
2008-2010	American Cancer Society: Cell Structure and Metastasis Peer Review Committee – chairperson

Editorial Responsibilities

2007-present	Editorial Board, Molecular and Cellular Biology
2007-present	Associate Editor, Cancer Research

Professional Societies

1980-present	American Association for the Advancement of Science
1993-present	American Society for Microbiology
1995-2000	American Society of Hematology
2000-present	American Society for Cell Biology
2000-present	American Society for Clinical Investigation

Updated: April 21, 2008