Seminar

Role of CK2 in Wnt/beta-catenin signaling and embryo development

Isabel Domínguez, PhD

Wnt signaling is essential for organ development and maintenance and its deregulation is the cause of several human diseases. Dr. Isabel Dominguez’ research interest is to understand the cascade of intracellular events that leads to the activation of Wnt signaling and the biological role of the Wnt pathway during organ development and maintenance. They have two areas of interest: 1) to characterize the molecular mechanism leading to activation of β-catenin, the key intracellular Wnt component that is upregulated in many human tumors. 2) to characterize the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulated by Wnt/β-catenin signaling during morphogenesis. Wnt/β-catenin signaling is essential for proper morphogenesis and thus, embryonic survival. Their recent data show that CK2 regulates morphogenesis in mice and Xenopus embryos. Ongoing experiments will determine the cellular, molecular and signaling processes that CK2 regulates during morphogenesis in mice. Their long-term goal is to identify means of preventing or correcting defects in morphogenetic processes that lead to congenital defects.