Albert Einstein Cancer Center

The overall aim of our projects is to identify biological roles for mammalian glycans in development, cancer and Notch signaling. Glycosyltransferase gene mutants of mice, embryonic stem (ES) cells and CHO cells are being used to investigate the basis of cell-type specific blocks to differentiation and transformation caused by alterations in specific glycans. We are investigating the hypothesis that the Mgat3 gene may function as a tumor suppressor in mammary gland using the MMTV-Polyoma middle T (PyMT) mammary tumor model which metastasizes to lung and in cell signaling assays in tumor epithelial cells and CHO glycosylation mutants. Roles for O-fucose glycans in Notch signaling are being investigated in co-culture assays and in the mouse. We have generated a mouse which lacks the O-fucose site in the Notch ligand-binding domain and are investigating the functions of this site and O-fucose glycans on Notch in general in Notch signaling during somitogenesis and T cell development.