9415262 Su This award supports a 12-month Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship for Dr. Sophia Su at the University of Kyoto, Japan. Dr. Su will work with Dr. Mitsuhiro Yanagida, Department of Biophysics, on a research project entitled, "Japan JSPS Program: Identification and Characterization of Genes Required for the GO/G1 Transition in Fission Yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe." Fission yeast is a unicellular eukaryotic cell which is an excellent model to study cell division cycle control and mitosis. Dr. Su and Dr. Yanagida will use the S. pombe as a model system to study the growth and differentiation of cells after they have been subjected to a nutrient or serum- starved conditions. The team will identify genes that are expressed and operated during the transition from nonproliferative (G0) to proliferative (G1) cell states. The team will isolate the regulatory gene products that may be necessary for leaving the G0 state and promoting initial DNA synthesis and cytoskeletal changes of the G1 state. These gene products may reveal universal roles in regulating cellular growth and cellular differentiation for yeast, may be similar to the regulation of cell proliferation of mammals and might have important implications for using yeast as a model for cancer research. ***
