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Sunita Gupta
Kramer
Associate Professor
UMDNJ-RWJMS
Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
R-210
Piscataway. NJ 08854
(732) 235-4226
FAX - 4825
kramersg@umdnj.edu |
Cell migration, signaling, heart and blood vessel development
Vasculogenesis, or the formation of new blood vessels, is an
important event, both during embryonic development and during tumor formation
and growth in adult tissues. Formation of vascular structures involves a series
of complex cell morphogenetic events. Blood vessels are essentially small tubes
formed by a monolayer of endothelial cells enclosing a central lumen. How do
groups of unorganized endothelial cells migrate to their proper location,
regulate their adhesive contacts and then arrange themselves into a linear tube
with a central lumen? The embryonic heart tube of the fruit fly, Drosophila
melanogaster, provides a simple and elegant in vivo model to discover the
molecules and mechanisms of vessel formation. Understanding how vessels assemble
could provide useful information for the development of therapies to treat
defects in human vascularization, as well as for inhibiting vessel formation
during tumor growth. Our lab utilizes both genetic and cell biological
approaches to explore the molecules and mechanisms underlying this process.
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