LINSENMAYER LABORATORY

          Our laboratory studies a number of aspects of developmental biology, chiefly in the cornea and the skeletal system of the avian embryo.
          Studies on the cornea involve two areas. One is the developmental mechanisms that are involved in the formation of the cornea, which include cellular migration and differentiation, and the synthesis and assembly of the extra cellular matrices that are major constituents of the cornea. These studies, in addition to elucidating the basic mechanisms of corneal development, have implications for wound healing and for fabricating an artificial cornea suitable for transplantation. The other area of corneal research involves a novel mechanism we have discovered in corneal epithelial cells have for preventing UV light-induced damage to DNA. Ongoing studies involve the mechanism through which this molecule (ferritin) which is normally cytoplasmic undergoes nuclear transport in a tissue-specific manner, and how the molecule protects DNA from damage. Corneal epithelial cells have virtually no tumors, possibly due in part to this mechanism for preventing nuclear damage. By learning more about this mechanism we may be able to confer this protection to other cell types.
          Studies on the developing skeletal system involve the regulation of cellular growth, differentiation and death in cartilage and bone. Ongoing studies include: (1) the regulatory roles of the perichondrium (the tissue that surrounds the cartilage) and periosteum (which surrounds bone) on cartilage growth and differentiation, and (2) a novel enzyme-mediated mechanism of cell death we have discovered in cartilage, and how this enzyme (transglutaminase), once released from the cell, regulates subsequent calcification and bone formation. The results of there studies have implications in a variety of disorders of the skeletal system, ranging from inherited defects such as chondrodystrophies and hormonal disorders, and, later in life, to degenerative problems such as osteoarthritis.