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Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Ph.D. Glasgow University 1972
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Dissection of Molecular Events Involved in Tumor Progression and Neurodegeneration
Dr. Zain’s research interests over the past 20 years have been in studying molecular mechanisms involved in cellular proliferation and death. Presently, her work focuses on two disease animal models created in her lab to study 1) tumor progression and metastases and 2) neuronal death in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). These models were built after her lab cloned 1) mts1 cDNA from malignant tumors and 2) Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) from AD afflicted human brains. The tumor metastases project utilizes an in vivo breast carcinoma metastasis model and the AD project uses transgenic mice and PC12 cells overexpressing Beta amyloid proteins.
Studies in these projects involve signal transduction events, role of growth factors and their receptors, DNA transfections and gene knock off, deletion mutagenesis, DNA methylation events, protein expression and purifications, and protein:protein interactions to decipher the molecular and cellular basis for tumor progression in breast cancer and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease; thus, covering the areas of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Pathology and Neurosciences. Mts1 gene expression confers metastatic phenotype on cancer cells and is expressed only in metastatic tumors, but not in their nonmetastatic counterparts. It a regulatory protein involved in the processes like motogenesis, morphogenesis, mitogenesis and tumor progression. We are studying the involvement of this protein in the above mentioned processes, with reference to signaling events induced by Hepatocyte growth factor, integrins and Rac-Rho pathways and lipid kinases.
b-Amyloid expression in PC12 cells induces the production of 2 PTPases, which alter the NGF & FGF responses in these cells. These PTPases have been cloned and characterized and their implication in AD is being investigated.
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Cox CJ, Dutta K, Basavappa R, Zain SB, Pascal SM (2002) Sequence-specific chemical shift assignment of calcium-loaded murine S100A4. J Biomol NMR, 23:153-4
Ford HL, Silver DL, Kachar B, Sellers JR, Zain SB (1997) Effect of Mts1 on the structure and activity of nonmuscle myosin II. Biochemistry, 36:16321-7
Sandhu FA, Kim Y, Lapan KA, Salim M, Aliuddin V, Zain SB (1996) Expression of the C terminus of the amyloid precursor protein alters growth factor responsiveness in stably transfected PC12 cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 93:2180-5
Ford HL, Salim MM, Chakravarty R, Aluiddin V, Zain SB (1995) Expression of Mts1, a metastasis-associated gene, increases motility but not invasion of a nonmetastatic mouse mammary adenocarcinoma cell line. Oncogene, 11:2067-75
Ford HL, Zain SB (1995) Interaction of metastasis associated Mts1 protein with nonmuscle myosin. Oncogene, 10:1597-605
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Graduate students in my laboratory work toward a Ph.D. degree in the following program[s]:
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Ph.D. in Biochemistry
Ph.D. in Biophysics
Ph.D. in Genetics
Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology
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Ph.D. candidates in my laboratory may also be affiliated with these programs:
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click here to learn more and to apply to graduate school |
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E-Mail: Sayeeda_Zain@urmc.rochester.edu
Sayeeda Zain
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
601 Elmwood Ave, Box 712
Rochester, New York 14642
Office: Medical Center 3-7409
Telephone: (585) 275-1887; Fax: (585) 271-2683
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