Emma Teng L&S Biological Sciences
Connecting bottle cells and melanoma through the Wnt pathway
Melanoma is an impactful disease that causes the death of two people in the United States every hour. Often, cancerous mutations occur in genes crucial for development. During gastrulation, the process that forms the primitive gut, several movements resemble those of melanoma cells. One of these events is the formation of teardrop-shaped bottle cells and tissue ingression towards the anterior end of the embryo. The actin cytoskeleton is known to be responsible for shape change (Lee & Harland, 2006) and intracellular effectors allude to the mechanisms involved (Popov et at., 2018). However, the regulation and signaling pathway which controls bottle cell behavior has not been explored. Interestingly, cytoskeletal movement, characteristics, and the shape of the bottle cells are very similar to those observed in melanoma cells. This proposed project aims to understand how bottle cells and melanoma may utilize similar signaling cascades through qualitative and functional approaches.
Message To Sponsor
Dear Pergo, Thank you so much for your generous support this summer! I am a rising senior biology student preparing to apply for a PhD program. This project was the first time I was able to work on my own research project full-time. I learned that I love to work in a lab and I gained so much confidence in planning / executing my experiments. It was truly a transformative summer and I will never forget this experience. It will be the cornerstone of my research career for years to come and I would not be able to continue in my journey in academia without this support. I appreciate you so much! All my thanks, Emma