2. Epithelial differentiation
This new project addresses the formation of epithelial tubules in developing pancreas and salivary glands, as complementary models of controlled opposite transitions between non-polarized cell masses and polarized epithelial monolayers. In contrast to the respiratory tree, these endoderm-derived glandular tissues do not expand by iterative bifidal division, but undergo two opposite transitions, from a primary monolayer that proliferates into a multilayered cell mass, followed by the formation of multiple focal epithelial cavities that coalesce to generate a continuous branched epithelium. Similar transitions are also found during blastulation, vasculogenesis, and at the early stages of carcinogenesis.
Our goals are (i) to identify polarity genes and transcriptional networks controlling the two transitions; (ii) the key ion channels and transporters involved in lumen formation (and their deficits in pancreatic kystic diseases); (iii) as well as molecular clues from the mesenchyme (e.g. chemokines).
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