My short-term goals are to develop my laboratory into a highly productive scientific environment which utilizes current molecular approaches to investigate questions of normal and abnormal embryogenesis. My long-term goals are to become a preeminent scientist in the field of developmental biology and significantly expand our current understanding of the processes involved in normal and abnormal embryonic development. The long-term objective of our research is to determine the developmental signals necessary for the normal differentiation and maturation of smooth muscle cells. We plan to investigate the molecular mechanisms responsible for smooth muscle development by determining the factors necessary for the normal expression of the gamma-smooth muscle isoactin gene during the differentiation and maturation of gastrointestinal smooth muscle cells in vitro and in vivo. Studies include the expansion of my current research plan to include more detailed studies of the neurotrophic effects of sympathetic ganglia on smooth muscle development, and an analysis of the factors responsible for the normal development of smooth muscle cells in transgenic mice.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Modified Research Career Development Award (K04)
Project #
5K04HD000996-03
Application #
2194499
Study Section
General Medicine A Subcommittee 2 (GMA)
Project Start
1992-08-01
Project End
1997-07-31
Budget Start
1994-08-01
Budget End
1995-07-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
1994
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Thomas Jefferson University
Department
Pathology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
061197161
City
Philadelphia
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
19107
Brittingham, J; Phiel, C; Trzyna, W C et al. (1998) Identification of distinct molecular phenotypes in cultured gastrointestinal smooth muscle cells. Gastroenterology 115:605-17
Chakder, S; McHugh, K M; Rattan, S (1997) Inhibitory neurotransmission in lethal spotted mutant mice: a model for Hirschsprung's disease. Gastroenterology 112:1575-85
Trzyna, W C; Gabbeta, V; McHugh, K M (1997) Isolation and characterization of a novel short chain alcohol dehydrogenase-like isozyme by differential display of distinct smooth muscle cell phenotypes. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 63:115-21
Trzyna, W; McHugh, M; McCue, P et al. (1997) Molecular determination of the malignant potential of smooth muscle neoplasms. Cancer 80:211-7
Brittingham, J; Liaw, D; Liddell, R et al. (1997) Comparative analysis of smooth muscle isoactin gene expression in normal and neoplastic tissues. Pathobiology 65:113-22
McHugh, K M (1995) Molecular analysis of smooth muscle development in the mouse. Dev Dyn 204:278-90
Pavan, W J; Liddell, R A; Wright, A et al. (1995) A high-resolution linkage map of the lethal spotting locus: a mouse model for Hirschsprung disease. Mamm Genome 6:1-7
Liddell, R A; Chakder, S; Rattan, S et al. (1994) Differential isoactin gene expression in the sphincteric and nonsphincteric gastrointestinal smooth muscles of the opossum. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 205:321-6