Request for Funding

Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2004

Mentor: Duojia Pan, Ph.D.
Department: Physiology
Room number: L4.234
Mail Code: 9040
Phone number: X88487
E-mail: duojia.pan@utsouthwestern.edu
Project title: Drosophila models of tumor suppressor genes

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Project Type (patient-based research, animal-based research, or basic research; this characterization is only to permit a general classification for grouping similar types of projects)

Brief Description of Project:

My lab is using the fruit fly Drosophila as a genetic model to understand tumor suppressor genes. We are working on two projects. First, we have established a Drosophila model of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). We are using this animal model to unravel the molecular mechanisms of the TSC1/TSC2 tumor suppressor genes. Our studies have so far led to several breakthroughs, including clinical trials of rapamycin for the therapeutic intervention of TSC. Second, we have recently identified a novel tumor suppression pathway that coordinately regulates both cell proliferation and cell death in Drosophila. We further show that this pathway might play a conserved role in humans, since human homologues of components of the pathway can replace the function of their Drosophila counterparts.

We are using a combination of molecular, genetic and biochemical approaches to further understand the function and regulation of these pathways.

References:
1. Gao, X. and Pan, D. (2001) TSC1 and TSC2 tumor suppressors antagonize insulin signaling in cell growth. Genes Dev. 15: 1383-1392.
2. Gao, X., Zhang, Y., Arrazola, P., Hino, O., Kobayashi, T., Yeung, R.S., Ru, B., Pan, D. (2002) Tsc tumor suppressor proteins antagonize amino acid-TOR signaling. Nature Cell Biol. 4, 699-704.
3. Zhang, Y., Gao, X., Saucedo, L.J., Ru, B., Edgar, B.A., Pan, D. (2003) Rheb is a direct target of the tuberous sclerosis tumor suppressor proteins. Nature Cell Biol. 5, 578-581.
4. Wu, S., Huang, J., Dong, J., Pan, D. (2003) hippo encodes a Ste-20 family protein kinase that restricts cell proliferation and promotes apoptosis in conjunction with salvador and warts. Cell, 114, 445-456.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:
None

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