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Margaret Hainline '04
This summer I worked in a lab studying the c-Kit receptor in stem cells. c-Kit is a
receptor tyrosine kinase that is essential for the proliferation, migration, and survival
of stem cells and their differentiation into red blood cells. The absence of c-Kit
expression is lethal while mutations in c-Kit expression cause anemia and various
types of cancer. I worked in the lab of Dr. Reuben Kapur, which focuses on studying
the role of the c-Kit receptor in molecular hematopoiesis (the making of red blood cells).
My project this summer was to map out the Src and PI3-Kinase pathways--two of the
biochemical pathways that become activated when the c-Kit receptor becomes
activated-- and then to determine the roles these pathways play in hematopoiesis.
My results showed that Src plays a major role in cell migration and survival and
cooperates with the PI3-Kinase pathway to mediate cell proliferation. Then, the
results from western blots of proteins were used to create a scheme of the specific
molecules that become activated in the Src and PI3-Kinase biochemical pathways.
The program in which I participated was the Summer Student Internship Program at
the Wells Center for Pediatric Research, Indiana University School of Medicine,
Indianapolis, IN.
Visit the website of the Wells Center
(www.iupui.edu/~wellsctr)
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