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Francesca Nakagawa
Graduate Student
Department of Pharmacology
Center for Developmental Genetics, CMM room 348
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY 11794-5130
(ph) 631-632-8438 (f) 631-632-1692
nakagawa@pharm.stonybrook.edu
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The Role of TRAF4 in Mesoderm Formation
The TGF-β superfamily of signaling factors are required for proper development of the
mesoderm, which forms the notochord, somites, heart, kidney, bones and blood. Within the
TGF-β superfamily, Nodals play a role in initiating mesoderm formation and BMPs are
involved in mesoderm patterning. Recently, the Thomsen lab used frog embryos to show that
TRAF4 is a positive regulator of TGF-β signaling in vertebrate development. TRAF4 shares
considerable structural homology with TRAFs 1,2,3,5 and 6, however, it does not share
their functions in immunity, cell survival or apoptosis and its molecular functions are
still not well understood. My project will investigate the role of TRAF4 in mesoderm
development and its molecular function in TGF-β signaling.
2003
Bachelor of Science:
Pharmacology
University of California,
Santa Barbara
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