Roeland Nusse

Stanford University


Primary Section: 22, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Membership Type:
Member (elected 2010)

Research Interests

I am interested in understanding how intercellular signals control embryogenesis and organogenesis. From our work and that of many others, it has emerged that molecules of the Wnt family regulate numerous decisions that cells make during embryogenesis. It is now also clear that Wnt signals influence how stem cells divide. Unrestrained Wnt signaling, after mutations in Wnt signaling components, is implicated in cancer, including human colon cancer. Currently, my research focuses on how Wnt sigals influence stem cell self-renewal, using in vitro approaches based on Wnt protein activity. We also use strains of mice in which Wnt signaling can be visualized and Wnt target cells can be traced. This line of work is being extended into trying to understand how tissues respond to injury, and how regeneration is being initiated.

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