Sunita Gupta Kramer Assistant Professor UMDNJ-RWJMS Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine R-210 Piscataway. NJ 08854 (732) 235-4226 FAX - 4825 kramersg@umdnj.edu

Cell migration and signaling. extracellular matrix. muscle and heart development

Cell migration plays an important role in a wide variety of biological processes ranging from organ assembly during embryonic development to tumor metastasis in adult tissues. Migrating cells can sense their environment and are guided to their target locations by attractive and repulsive signals. which can act at either short or long range. Research in my laboratory is directed towards discovering new molecules and mechanisms that migrating cells use to find their targets using the fruit fly. Drosophila melanogaster as a genetic model system.

The embryonic muscle system of the fruit fly provides an ideal model for the study of the mechanisms that guide cells in specific directions. The ends of developing muscle fibers form structures highly reminiscent of the filopodia that are found on axonal growth cones. Just as axonal growth cones use filopodia to seek out guidance cues. muscle fibers use these structures to search out specific cells in the epidermis. Our current focus is on Slit. an extracellular matrix protein that guides migrating axons in the fly and vertebrate central nervous system. and also guides migrating muscle cells both in the body wall of the embryo and in the embryonic heart. Our approach to investigate the mechanism by which Slit guides muscle cells takes advantage of the power of Drosophila genetics combined with a broad range of cell and molecular biology techniques. In addition. we are screening for new genes involved in cell migration. The isolation of new molecules involved in muscle guidance will provide further clarification of the general mechanisms that control cell movement in many different tissues.

Selected Publications

Santiago-Martinez E, Soplop NH, Kramer SG. (2006) Lateral positioning at the dorsal midline: Slit and Roundabout receptors guide Drosophila heart cell migration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 103(33):12441-6.

Kramer. S. G.. Kidd T.. Simpson. J. S.. and Goodman C. S. (2001). Switching repulsion to attraction: changing responses to Slit during transition in mesoderm migration.Science 292(5517): 737-740.