Associate Fellow in Experimental Neurobiology
makarenkova@nsi.edu

I am interested in identifying, characterizing, and understanding the function of the factors involved in controlling cell migration differentiation during patterning of vertebrate embryo. Some of the most exciting questions of modern developmental biology concern the mechanisms that guide pattern formation and differentiation in the vertebrate embryo. For example, which signals and mechanisms are important for specifying the precise positions of the cells, within the developing brain? What mechanisms guide brain evolution? Answers to these questions may be found by connecting signals from morphogens (secreted signaling molecules) that promote cell migration and differentiation with transcription factors and other molecules that regulate programs of gene expression downstream of these signals. Much of my effort has been devoted to studying members of the Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) and Bone morphogenetic (BMPs) family of signaling molecules and their antagonists. We found that morphogen gradients and dosage-dependent cellular responses are important in embryonic development. Using cell migration and organ culture assays, we showed that cells can detect, read, and remember FGF gradients and that the initiation of morphogenesis is controlled by changes in the FGF gradient. We also found that interactions between growth factors and negatively charged cell matrix molecules has biological significance and regulates both the shape of the morphogenetic gradient and downstream cellular responses. Our recent approaches have been to study transgenic and mutant mice and to determine the role of expression level of key developmental factors in regulation of cell migration and tissue differentiation.

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