The Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support to STEM junior faculty at HBCUs who are starting to build a research program, as well as for mid-career faculty who may have returned to the faculty ranks after holding an administrative post or who need to redirect and rebuild a research program. Faculty members may pursue research at their home institution, at an NSF-funded Center, at a research intensive institution or at a national laboratory. The RIA projects are expected to help further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, to improve research and teaching at his or her home institution, and to involve undergraduate students in research experiences. With support from the National Science Foundation, Delaware State University (DSU) will conduct research aimed at addressing a major gap in knowledge in the regulation of gene expression. This project will be used to enhance teaching and learning at DSU with a focus on mentoring and training freshman and sophomore students. The proposed research experiences will provide access for undergraduate STEM students, mainly from underrepresented minority groups, to participate in advanced cellular, molecular and biophysical investigations at DSU. The early involvement of STEM students in active research will increase the retention and graduation rates in STEM as well as increase the production of highly qualified students for graduate school and the STEM global workforce.
The goal of the proposed study is to understand the mechanisms by which CD44 regulates gene expression in the cell. The specific aims of this project are to: 1) characterize protein-protein interactions between CD44 intracytoplasmic domain (ICD) and transcription factors Runx2 and/or p53 in cells and to assess the CD44-mediated functional expression of matrix metalloproteinase 9 gene (MMP-9) in the chick embryo model; and 2) map a CD44-ICD minimal binding domain in the protein-protein interactions with p53 and/or Runx2 and to assess its potential use as a small molecule modulator of the CD44 signaling pathway. This proposal combines in vitro and in vivo cellular, molecular and biophysical experimental approaches to investigate how protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions between the CD44-ICD and transcription factors and gene promoters, respectively, regulate gene expression. Detecting details at the molecular level of this gene regulatory mechanism will provide a potential approach to modulate the expression of such genes and their effects on cell phenotypes and thus behavior in cellular physiology and developmental biology.
