The Laboratory of Genetics was formed in 1982 from a group of workers that were in the Laboratory of Cell Biology. The basic plan of the Laboratory was to provide an organization for a group of independent investigators who were interested in genetic mechanisms in neoplastic development.
Principal investigators in the Laboratory of Genetics are:
The Chief's section consists of a group of scientists whose primary interest is the pathogenesis of plasmacytoma formation in mice. Dr. Beverly Mock is positioning plasmacytoma susceptibility and resistance genes in preparation for cloning and molecular characterization. Dr. Siegfried Janz is studying the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying the chromosomal translocations that lead to the deregulation of c-myc transcription. Dr. Potter is studying the genetic basis for susceptibility and resistance to plasmacytomagenesis and the role of inflammation in this process.
The Molecular Genetics Section is studying the c-myc and abl oncogenes, and the Pvt1 locus. In addition to c-myc and abl, Dr. J. F. Mushinski has been studying the involvement of protein kinase C isozymes in signalling pathways in plasma cells. Dr. Konrad Huppi is studying the Pvt1 genetic locus that recombines with immunoglobulin light chains and forms a hybrid transcript that codes for a chimeric protein which interferes with the c-myc transcription.
Dr. Stuart Rudikoff's Molecular Immunology Section is focused on the role of T-cells and IL-6 in plasmacytomagenesis.
Dr. Sandra Smith-Gill's group is studying the binding of high affinity, structurally defined mAbs to hen egg white lysozyme as a paradigm for understanding the molecular basis for specificity and affinity in protein-protein interactions.