Regulation of apoptosis-induced compensatory cell proliferation and its implications for cancer and tissue regeneration

About the Project

In multi-cellular organisms, coordinated cell death (e.g. apoptosis) and cell replacement is critical for tissue recovery in response to stress or damage. Although there is not much known about this process at the cellular and molecular level, recent studies including ours have discovered that apoptotic cells can actively induce compensatory proliferation of surrounding cells through a non-apoptotic function of caspases, a family of cysteine-proteases that normally execute apoptosis. This research aims to dissect the molecular anatomy of compensatory cell proliferation following activation of apoptosis. By taking advantages of Drosophila as a model organism, we have developed unique assays to systematically identify and characterize regulators of compensatory cell proliferation. Because apoptosis-induced compensatory cell proliferation has been observed in tissue regeneration and tumorigenesis in multiple organisms including mammals, identification of its underlying regulatory mechanisms in Drosophila will significantly impact our understanding of its physiological role in tissue repair as well as its pathological role in multiple human diseases including cancer.

State-of-the-art technologies in Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Advanced Microscopy Imaging and Drosophila Genetics are employed in this research.

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