Mercurio Lab 2nd Year Graduate Student, Dimpi Mukhopadhyay, recently passed her Qualifying Examination. She is officially a Ph.D. Candidate at UMass Medical School.
CONGRATS DIMPI!
OUR PAPER ON REAL-TIME IMAGING OF INTEGRIN β4 DYNAMICS USING A REPORTER CELL LINE IS OUT IN THE JOURNAL OF CELL SCIENCE!
Abstract
The ability to monitor changes in the expression and localization of integrins is essential for understanding their contribution to development, tissue homeostasis and disease. Here, we pioneered the use of Crispr/Cas9 genome editing to tag an allele of the β4 subunit of the α6β4 integrin. A tdTomato tag was inserted with a linker at the C-terminus of integrin β4 in mouse mammary epithelial cells. Cells harboring this tagged allele were similar to wild-type cells with respect to integrin β4 surface expression, association with the α6 subunit, adhesion to laminin and consequent signaling. These integrin β4 reporter cells were transformed with YAP (also known as YAP1), which enabled us to obtain novel insight into integrin β4 dynamics in response to a migratory stimulus (scratch wound) by live-cell video microscopy. An increase in integrin β4 expression in cells proximal to the wound edge was evident, and a population of integrin β4-expressing cells that exhibited unusually rapid migration was identified. These findings could shed insight into integrin β4 dynamics during invasion and metastasis. Moreover, these integrin β4 reporter cells should facilitate studies on the contribution of this integrin to mammary gland biology and cancer.This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.
Elaimy AL, Wang M, Sheel A, Brown CW, Walker MR, Amante JJ, Xue W, Chan A, Baer CE, Goel HL, Mercurio AM. Real-time imaging of integrin β4 dynamics using a reporter cell line generated by Crispr/Cas9 genome editing. J Cell Sci. 2019 Jul 31. PMID: 31262785
2019 ANNUAL MERCURIO LAB PHOTO IS UP!
AMEER'S PAPER ON VEGFR NEUROPILIN 2 PROMOTION OF HOMOLOGOUS RECOMBINATION BY STIMULATING YAP/TAZ-MEDIATED RAD51 EXPRESSION IS OUT IN PNAS!
Elaimy AL, Amante JJ, Zhu LJ, Wang M, Walmsley CS, FitzGerald TJ, Goel HL, Mercurio AM. The VEGF receptor neuropilin 2 promotes homologous recombination by stimulating YAP/TAZ-mediated Rad51 expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Jul 9. PMID: 31235595
OUR REVIEW ON VEGF/NEUROPILIN SIGNALING IN CANCER STEM CELLS WAS PUBLISHED IN THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES!
Mercurio AM. VEGF/Neuropilin Signaling in Cancer Stem Cells. Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Jan 23. PMID: 30678134